Nainital lab developed intelligent algorithm to help Aditya mission to image sun

Vijay Mohan

Chandigarh, September 2

As the Aditya L-1 spacecraft embarked upon its unique journey towards the Sun, it carried onboard the first of its kind intelligent algorithm to analyse the solar atmosphere that has been developed by a laboratory in located in the western Himalayas,

The Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital, has designed an automated algorithm to detect Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), which are significant expulsions of magnetic field and accompanying plasma mass from the Sun’s corona into the heliosphere.

It will be the first of its kind to track the huge bubbles of gas threaded with magnetic field lines that are ejected from the Sun, disrupting space weather and causing geomagnetic storms, satellite failures, and power outages, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

“This algorithm has been hard-coded by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and will be used to detect CMEs automatically on board Aditya-L1, making it one of the first onboard intelligence algorithms for this purpose, as no similar thing has been attempted in previous NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) or ESA (European Space Agency) missions studying the Sun,” a statement issued on Sunday read.

The algorithm will be embedded in the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC), Aditya L-1’s primary payload that will image the Sun’s atmosphere and corona at high resolution and from a distance closer to the giant star than ever before.

Though billions of tons of coronal material is ejected, only a small fraction of it reaches the Earth but it can impact the Earth’s magnetosphere and ionosphere, disrupt radio transmissions and damage satellites and electrical transmission line facilities, according to scientists.

The impact of CMEs can result in the release of power of the order of several terawatts directed back toward Earth’s upper atmosphere, scientists said. One terawatt is equal to 10,00,000 megawatts. For comparison, the installed energy penitential of Bhakra Dam is 1,325 megawatts. Hence the importance of studying and understanding CMEs.

ISRO has also collaborated with ARIES to establish the Aditya-L1 Support Cell at Nainital. The support cell (AL1SC) is envisioned as a community service centre for observers in preparing science observing proposals and analysing science data.

The cell will provide additional tools and train users about solar physics and provide help to understand, download and analyse the data that would be made available by ISRO establishments.