Even before the excitement over the success of Chandrayaan III has subsided, India will aim for the Sun on Saturday with its maiden solar expedition, as ISRO’s trusted PSLV will carry the Aditya L1 mission to the Sun. The 23.10 hour countdown for the launch of Aditya L1 onboard PSLV C57 commenced on Friday, ISRO said.The Sun observatory mission will be fired from the second launchpad at Sriharikota, off the Bay of Bengal coast in Andhra Pradesh, at 11.50 am on Saturday. ISRO chairman S Somanath said the Sun mission will take 125 days to reach the exact radius.
But the celebrations over the Chandrayaan-3’s success are not over. Back on Earth, all components of the lunar mission will be on display as models at the Onam pageantry in Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram on September 2. Governor Arif Mohammed Khan will flag-off the floats at 5 pm from Manaveeyam Veedhi.
Officials said the final works for the Chandrayaan-3 mission float, which was designed by noted artist Dr J D Gopan in Kollam and brought to the compound of the Abdul Kalam Knowledge Centre, Kawdiar, are being carried out at full pace.
In perhaps the first visit in nearly five decades by an Indian defence minister to Sri Lanka, Rajnath Singh will embark on a two-day trip to the island nation on Saturday which the government said will be an important “landmark” in building strong bonds of friendship between the two countries.A day ahead of his visit, Indian Navy’s first indigenously designed and built guided missile destroyer INS Delhi arrived at Colombo. Singh is scheduled to host Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremsinghe onboard on Saturday, officials said. Singh will hold talks with Wickremesinghe, who is also Sri Lanka’s defence minister, and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, the defence ministry said The Indian Navy said the Indian contingent would also lay a wreath and pay homage to Indian martyrs at the IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Force) memorial. It also said the entire gamut of defence ties between the two countries will be reviewed during the visit.
