ISRO completes launch rehearsal, vehicle internal checks ahead of launch of Aditya-L1 mission

Ahead of the launch of India's solar mission, Aditya-L1, the Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday announced that the launch rehearsal has been completed along with the vehicle's internal checks.  Taking to 'X' (formerly known as Twitter), ISRO wrote, "PSLV-C57/Aditya-L1 Mission: The preparations for the launch are progressing. The Launch Rehearsal - Vehicle Internal Checks are completed". 

The Aditya-L1 mission is India's first solar mission to be launched with an aim to study the sun. According to an ISRO statement, the Aditya L1 spacecraft carries seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere and the outermost layers of the Sun (the corona) using electromagnetic and particle and magnetic field detectors. Using the special vantage point L1, four payloads directly view the Sun and the remaining three payloads carry out in-situ studies of particles and fields at the Lagrange point L1, thus providing important scientific studies of the propagatory effect of solar dynamics in the interplanetary medium.

The suits of Aditya L1 payloads are expected to provide most crucial informations to understand the problem of coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, pre-flare and flare activities and their characteristics, dynamics of space weather, propagation of particle and fields, the statement said.  Meanwhile, ISRO, in another post on 'X' provided an update on the Chandrayaan's Pragyan rover when it release an image of the Vikram lander as clicked by the rover.  "Pragyan Rover clicked an image of Vikram Lander this morning. The image was taken by the Navigation Camera onboard the Rover (NavCam)", ISRO wrote. 

The Pragyan rover is a significant part of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. The rover has embarked on its journey to explore the south pole of the moon. The ISRO on Tuesday said that the Pragyan Rover has confirmed the presence of Sulphur on the lunar surface.

ISRO said that the Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) instrument onboard the Pragyan Rover unambiguously confirms the presence of Sulphur (S) on the lunar surface near the south pole. Taking to X (former Twitter), ISRO said, "Chandrayaan-3 Mission: In-situ scientific experiments continue. Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) instrument onboard the Rover unambiguously confirms the presence of Sulphur (S) in the lunar surface near the south pole through first-ever in-situ measurements."

The Chandrayaan-3 mission has prominently three parts- the propulsion module, which transferred the lander and the rover module to 100 kilometres of lunar orbit, the Lander module, which was responsible for the soft landing of the lunar craft and the Rover module,  which is for exploring components on the moon.  India took a giant leap on August 23, as the Chandrayaan-3 lander module successfully landed on the moon's South pole, making it the first country to have achieved the historic feat. The country became the fourth– after the US, China, and Russia – to have successfully landed on the moon's surface.