Aditya L1 Mission: ISRO Activates Second Instrument 

Aditya L1 mission appears to be well on its way to entering the next phase under ISRO’s tight supervision. The Aditya Solar Wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX) has officially begun its operations as ISRO has activated its second instrument – Solar Wind Ion Spectrometer (SWIS), which will have a 360-degree field of view, and its sensor units will be used to study the solar wind ions with a specific focus on the protons and alpha particles. ISRO has revealed that the instrument is currently functioning normally.  

The first instrument, STEPS (SupraThermal and Energetic Particle Spectrometer) of this Aditya L1 mission, was activated on September 10. This mission was launched soon after the grand success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, which made history in the space sector as Bharat became the first country to land on the southern pole of the moon. Soon after the soft landing, ISRO announced the Aditya L1 mission, along with a mission to Venus. The final results of the current mission will likely take shape in the initial few months of the coming year.   

Image source: Business Today