ISRO INVITES INDIAN SCIENTISTS TO ANALYZE ADITYAL1 DATA

News: “Announcement of Opportunity (AO)” ISRO is inviting research proposals from Indian scientists to use Aditya-L1 observational data, conduct solar science research, publish new scientific findings. This marks the first official observation cycle under Aditya-L1.

Aditya-L1:

• India’s first dedicated solar mission
• Launched on September 2, 2023
• Reached L1 on January 6, 2024 (after 127 days)

Primary Objective:

To study:

• Solar atmosphere (Photosphere, Chromosphere, Corona)
• Solar winds
• Solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs)
• Impact of solar activity on Earth (Space Weather)

Sun–Earth L1 point:

• Located ~1.5 million km from Earth
• A Lagrangian Point where gravitational forces of Sun and Earth balance

Announcement of Opportunity (AO)

• AO is an official call for scientific proposals

Scientists apply to get:

• Observation time
• Access to mission instruments
• Permission to analyse specific datasets

This AO is:

• Open only to Indian scientists
• From Indian institutes, universities, and colleges
• Applicants must act as Principal Investigators (PIs)

Significance

ISRO aims to maximize scientific returns from Aditya-L1:

• Already 23+ TB of data released in public domain
• Several papers published in international peer-reviewed journals
• Now wants Indian solar physics community to take the lead

Encourages:

• Indigenous research
• Capacity building
• Academic–ISRO collaboration