The Indian Space Researcher Organisation’s (ISRO) Aditya L1 solar probe mission has completed an important milestone—it captured its first high-energy solar flare in X-ray. “During its first observation period from approximately 12:00 to 22:00 UT on October 29, 2023, the High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS) on board Aditya-L1 has recorded the impulsive phase of solar flares. The recorded data is consistent with the X-ray light curves provided by NOAA's GOES,” said ISRO in a post on social media platform X on Tuesday. The GOES satellite that ISRO refers to is the “Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite,” which is operated by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It supports weather forecasting, severe storm tracking and meteorology research. The image was captured by the Aditya L1 mission’s HEL1OS instrument. The High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer is the hard X-ray spectrometer on the mission. It operates in the wide X-ray energy band between 10 and 150 keV. It helps study solar flare activities on the Sun. Studying solar flares and other space weather phenomena is important because they can affect life here on Earth. They can affect power systems, satellite communication systems and radio communications. During worst-case scenarios, they can cause blackouts that affect large parts of the Earth for hours. Studying solar flares and solar activity can help prepare for and insulate against such risks.
