Former Int'l Space Station Commander Hails 'India's Technological Prowess' Ahead of Aditya-L1 Launch

Hailing the skill and capacity of Indian technology, ahead of the launch of India’s maiden solar mission Aditya L-1, former Commander of the International Space Station Chris Hadfield said that everybody on Earth is “counting on technology”.

The Indian Space Research Organisation’s Sun mission is scheduled to be launched at 11:50 am on Saturday from the launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.

The launch rehearsal and internal checks of the spacecraft were completed by the space agency on Wednesday. India’s first solar space observatory will be launched by the PSLV-C57 rocket, carrying seven different payloads to study the Sun in-depth.

Four of the payloads will observe the light from the Sun and the other three will measure in-situ parameters of the plasma and magnetic fields.

Former Astronaut and author of Apollo Murders, Chris Hadfield commented on how the Aditya L-1 mission and it’s impact on the human space flight saying, “So when we put something like Aditya L-1 up there in between us and the Sun to sense those things, to better understand how the sun works and the threats it has to the earth, it’s good for everybody for protecting us as people.” “But also, of course, our electrical grid, our internet grid, and all of the thousands of satellites that we count on that are up in orbit,” he added.

Aditya L-1, which will travel 1.5 million kilometres to its designated point, Lagrange Point (L-1) is expected to cover this distance in a span of four months.

Expressing the expectations of people from the space community, Hadfield said, “Well, everybody on Earth is counting on technology just to have electricity in their homes and businesses to have communications.. We are counting on a really complicated interconnected global electric and data system.. it’s really useful information, not just for ISRO and not just for, obviously the Indian space program, but it’s something that is sort of vital space weather for the world.”

The main objective of the mission is to provide very vital scientific studies of solar dynamics in the interplanetary medium. The spacecraft is designed in a way that it will provide remote observations of the solar corona and undisturbed observations of the solar winds.

The data provided by the spacecraft will be used for solving how the temperature of the corona can reach about a million degrees while the Sun’s surface itself stays just over 6000 degrees Centigrade.

The spacecraft would provide observations on the corona and on the solar chromosphere. This will be done by using the UV payload.

Reacting to the recent success of ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3, Hadfield said that the mission is a “strong demonstration of the increased capability of Indian technology.” He said that it is historic moment for India and the world.

Hadfield appreciated the advancement of India’s technology saying, “This example of landing on the moon and sending a probe to the sun or at least to go monitor the Sun and getting Indian astronauts ready to fly in space, it provides a really visible example to everybody in India, but to everybody else around the world of just where Indian technological prowess is right now.” He said that this also provides a hint into what all is to come from India.

Speaking about India’s lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3 and its budget, Hadfield said that budget is a really important factor that needs to be considered. He said, “If you compare it to everything else that Indian government is doing, if you compare it to the amount that’s spent on food distribution or health and welfare for Indian people, it is like a 100th of 1 per cent of the whole budget… In comparison to what other countries spend to do something similar, it’s one of India’s great strengths as well.” He said that this way makes India “extremely competitive”, adding that the successful and efficient way of India’s successful landing on the moon is a proof for all Indian space companies that they can also do something like this.

The former commander of the International Space Station said that India is in a “really strong leveraged position” to push technology in an economic way and turn it into a profitable space business.

Further Hadfield said, “I think prime minister Narendra Modi has seen that for several years. He is very much directly involved with the Indian space and research organization..So it’s a really smart move on India’s leadership side right now, to be pushing it, to be developing it, but also being in the process of privatizing it so that the businesses and therefore Indians can benefit.”

The ‘Apollo Murders’ author is scheduled to release the next instalment of ‘The Defector’ on October 10.

(With inputs from ANI)