Aditya-L1 is able to monitor Sun 24 hours, says project director

Nigar Shaji, Aditya-L1 project dir., said spacecraft monitors Sun 24 hrs. Interacting with students, she said education essential for dev. of society & progress of indiv. Explaining mission, she said spacecraft studies thermal env., radiation & magnetic storms. Other projects include landing man on moon & Mars; refuelling on moon & extracting helium-3 minerals in future for alternative energy. Establishing habitation on moon will take 20-40 yrs.

The Aditya-L1 project director, Nigar Shaji, said that the spacecraft was able to monitor the Sun 24 hours.

Participating in the Salem Book Fair, Ms. Shaji interacted with school students and answered their queries regarding the mission. Ms. Shaji said education was essential for the development of society and the progress of an individual. Learning should not stop with schools and colleges, it was a lifelong process. “Just setting a goal in life was not enough. We must work hard to achieve it,” Ms. Shaji added.

Explaining the Aditya-L1 mission, Ms. Nigar Shaji said the spacecraft would be able to study the thermal environment, radiation, and magnetic storms. The gravitational force would be equal between the Sun and Earth at the Lagrangian point (L1). From there, it was able to monitor the Sun the entire day, and the spacecraft would be protected from thermal radiation.

Mentioning other projects, Ms. Shaji said continued research was going on to land a man on the moon and Mars. To reach Mars, it would take nine months. Many countries were researching ways to increase the speed of spacecraft and reduce travel time. On the way to Mars, spacecraft would be refuelled by landing on the moon. “At present, we could not extract helium-3 minerals from the moon in tonnes. In future, helium minerals will be used as alternative energy. To establish habitation on the moon, it will take 20 to 40 years,” Ms. Shaji added.