Live broadcast | India launches a probe to study the moon a week after arriving at the moon

Weather of Arabia - After the successful landing of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the surface of the moon last week, the Indian Space Agency today, Saturday, launched a rocket carrying a probe to study the sun, in an important additional step in the field of space exploration.

Why did India send a probe to the sun?

India's first space solar probe aims to study solar winds that can cause disturbances on Earth.

What does the name of India's probe "Aditya-L1" mean?

The probe was named "Aditya-L1", taken from an Indian word meaning "sun".

When was India's probe launched to the sun?

The probe launched at exactly 11:50 am (06:20 GMT), and the live broadcast on the website of the Indian Space Research Organization showed the successful launch of the missile, while scientists were applauding.

Nearly 860,000 people watched the broadcast, while thousands gathered in a gallery near the launch site to watch the launch of the probe.

Watch the live broadcast here

India is the first country to land on the south pole of the moon

The solar mission comes after India overtook Russia late last month to become the first country to land on the south pole of the moon. While Russia had a more powerful vehicle, the Indian Chandrayaan-3 outperformed the Russian Luna-25 and carried out a model landing.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks for Indian space missions to have a greater role on the global stage, which is dominated by the United States and China. “He wants to make India's information technology prosperous again through space,” said a government official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on behalf of Modi's office.

“We made sure that we would have a unique data set that is not currently available from any other mission,” said Sankar Subramanian, the mission’s lead scientist.

He added: “This will allow us to understand the nature of the Sun and its activity, as well as the inner heliosphere, which is an important element of current-day technology, as well as the features of space weather.”

The first vehicle to study the sun

The vehicle took off into space aboard a 320-ton PSLV XL rocket designed by the Indian Space Research Organization. This missile is one of the pillars of New Delhi's program, and has previously been used to launch missions towards the moon and Mars.

Scientists from the Indian Space Research Organization said data from the long-term mission could help better understand the Sun's influence on Earth's climate patterns and the origin of the solar wind, a stream of particles flowing from the Sun through the solar system.

This will be New Delhi's first vehicle to study the sun, bringing India to NASA and the European Space Agency in discovering the radiant star of the solar system.

Japan and China have also previously launched missions to observe the sun from Earth's orbit, but if successful, India will be the first Asian mission to be able to reach orbit around the sun.

Last week, India became the fourth country to succeed in landing an unmanned vehicle on the surface of the moon, after Russia, the United States, and China. The cost of "Chandrian-3" amounted to 74.6 million dollars, that is, less than many missions from other countries.

The first Asian country to put a probe into Mars orbit

In 2014, India became the first Asian country to place a probe in Mars orbit, and is scheduled to launch a three-day manned mission to Earth orbit by next year. It intends to undertake a joint mission with Japan to send a second probe to the moon by 2025, and a mission to the orbit of Venus within the next two years.