The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), which has multiple big science projects in its pipeline, will only be able to launch its third mission toMoon, Chandrayaan-3, in June or July next year, while it is more confident of launching its maiden mission to studySun,
Aditya-L1, in the first quarter of next calendar year.Chandrayaan-3, on the other hand, will be Isros second attempt at landing payload on the lunar surface after the failure of Chandrayaan-2.
Aditya-L1, the first observatory-class space-based solar mission from India, will be placed in a halo orbit around the first Lagrange point (L1) of the Sun-Earth system. A
satellite around the L1 point has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without occultation/eclipses.According to Isro, this position provides a greater advantage of observing solar activities continuously. Aditya-L1 carries seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere, and the outermost layers of the Sun (the corona) using electromagnetic and particle detectors.