During the recent solar storms that caused major signal disruptions in most parts of the world, and made the aurora borealis appear in a number of unusual places, Indian satellites remained resilient. Despite the onslaught of powerful solar storms, India’s Aditya L-1 and Chandrayaan Satellites stayed completely functional and even took some interesting images and collected data, said the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
Between May 10 and 11, the Earth was hit as intense solar storms, which originated from the highly active region AR13664 on the sun. This event unleashed a barrage of solar flares, including at least four ‘X’ class (the most intense) and numerous ‘M’ class (moderate intensity) that hit them.
These solar eruptions marked the most potent flares to hit Earth since November 2003. The storms were so powerful that they ignited a spectacular display of aurorae in across numerous places on Earth which usually don’t get to see them. Even some places closer to the equator, such as India’s Ladakh closer got to see them.
ISRO’s vigilant observatories were primed to capture the solar spectacle. They successfully documented the disturbances caused by Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and intense solar flares.
Despite the ferocity of the solar storms, ISRO reported minimal disruption in the Indian sector. The lower latitudes shielded India from widespread outages experienced in other parts of the world, particularly over the Pacific and the Americas.
ISRO’s fleet of 30 spacecraft in geostationary orbit remained unscathed by the solar onslaught. However, because of precautionary measures the Star Sensor onboard INSAT-3DS and INSAT-3DR, which are used by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), were temporarily deactivated
Nevertheless, satellites orbiting in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) encountered significant drag, a consequence of the increased solar activity. Several satellites, including EOS-07 and Cartosat-F, experienced some orbital decay, with deviations ranging from 50 to 600 meters, as per ISRO’s report.
Aditya-L1, ISRO’s latest solar mission provided some crucial insights into the solar storms. Several instruments onboard, including the SoLEXS and HEL1OS, detected multiple X and M-class solar flares, while the SWIS model captured increased solar wind particle flux.
Even Chandrayaan-2, which was orbiting the lunar poles, observed some intriguing phenomena thanks to to the geomagnetic storm. The Solar X-Ray Monitor (XSM) onboard Chandrayaan-2 has been gathering some vital data on the increased local high-energy particle environment since May 9.
Despite the challenges posed by the solar storms, ISRO’s satellites maintained operational integrity, which is a testament to the agency’s preparedness and technological prowess in navigating space’s dynamic environment.
ISRO is continuously monitoring space weather to ensure that India’s crucial infrastructure in space continues to functional normally.
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