Solar mission Aditya-L1 will reach destination on January 6: ISRO chairman
Ahmedabad, Dec 23: India's maiden solar mission Aditya-L1 will reach its destination, the Lagrangian point (L1) which is located 1.5 million km from the Earth, on January 6, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman S Somanath has said.
The mission, the first Indian space-based observatory to study the Sun from a halo orbit L1, was launched by the ISRO on September 2 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) at Sriharikota.
"Aditya-L1 will enter the L1 point on January 6. That is what is expected. Exact time will be announced at appropriate time," Somanath told mediapersons here on Friday on the sidelines of the Bharatiya Vigyan Sammelan organised by Vijnana Bharati, an NGO working to popularise science.
"When it reaches the L1 point, we have to fire the engine once again so that it does not go further. It will go to that point, and once it reaches that point, it will rotate around it and will be trapped at L1," he said.
Once Aditya-L1 reaches its destination, it will help measure various events happening on the Sun for the next five years.
"Once it is successfully placed on L1 point, it will be there for the next five years, gathering all the data which are very important not for India alone but for the entire world. The data will be very useful to understand the dynamics of the Sun and how it affects our life," the ISRO chief said.
How India is going to become a technologically powerful country is very important, he said while addressing the gathering.
ISRO has made a plan to build an Indian space station, called 'Bharatiya space station' during the 'Amrit Kaal' as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi's instructions, Somanath said.
"In the space sector we are seeing an emergence of new actors...We are going to support, encourage and build the economy around the new generation," he said, adding that India cannot become a leader in everything, but it should focus on the sectors where it can.
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Sabarimala gold loss: How did the accused reach Rahul's home, asks Vijayan
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday hit back at Rahul Gandhi for targeting the ruling CPI(M) over the Sabarimala gold loss case during a poll campaign, questioning how the accused in the case had managed to reach the Congress leader's home.
The Marxist veteran was apparently referring to a widely circulated purported photograph in which the prime accused in the Sabarimala gold loss cases, Unnikrishnan Potty, accompanied by some senior Congress leaders, was seen with Sonia Gandhi at her residence in Delhi.
He also said people have already given a reply to Rahul, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, on this matter.
The CM's reaction came a day after Rahul sang a line from a popular parody song about CPI(M) leaders' alleged roles in the gold theft at the Sabarimala temple while addressing a corner meeting as part of the assembly polls campaign in Pathanamthitta district.
As he sang the line "swarnam kattathu aarappa" (who stole the gold of Ayyappa) from a song used by the Congress-led UDF to target the ruling Left during the local body polls a few months ago, at the meeting in Pathanamthitta -- the district where the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa is located-- the crowd cheered Rahul.
Soon after Gandhi targeted the Left party over the gold loss issue, CPI (M) activists began a social media campaign making allegations against his mother and former party chief Sonia Gandhi in connection with the matter.
While replying to a question regarding this, CM Vijayan said the Congress leader already got a befitting reply and should he also repeat the same.
"If he thinks about how all those who were involved in the stealing had reached his home...then he will get a reply. Anyway, we don't have any such flaws," Vijayan added.
Attacking the Left and the BJP over the Sabarimala gold loss issue, Rahul Gandhi on Monday had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had forgotten about what happened in Sabarimala, during his visit to Palakkad as part of election campaign.
Rahul claimed that the prime minister remained silent to avoid damaging the LDF.
He had also said that a UDF government would ensure that those responsible for alleged irregularities related to the temple are punished.
