The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has conceived a twin-satellite mission for studying the impact of space weather on the Earth's upper atmosphere.
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Senior scientists of the space agency explained the aims of the 'DISHA-H&L' mission at a May 10 national-level meet on aeronomy research held online. 'DISHA' is short for ‘Disturbed and Quiet time Ionosphere-Thermosphere Systems at High Altitudes.'
The two satellites, sporting identical sets of scientific instruments, would capture the latitudinal and longitudinal effects of space weather events on the upper atmosphere, Shantanu Bhatwadekar, Scientific Secretary, ISRO, said.
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Orbits
The DISHA-H satellite will be placed at a high inclination orbit and DISHA-L, at a lower inclination orbit. The Earth's upper atmosphere hosts extreme transition regions in terms of temperature and atmospheric mixing. Since the disturbances here are global in nature, it is essential to investigate the elements that are impacted by space weather, speakers at the national meet noted.
ISRO chairman S. Somanath, who inaugurated the meet, said that the DISHA-H&L mission would provide valuable scientific insights into the effects of space weather events on the Earth's upper atmosphere.
This, in turn, would aid the modelling of the ionosphere-thermosphere system in terms of its response to space weather events. Such a model would contribute towards the understanding of the sun-Earth connection, and serve as a tool for several applications that were susceptible to space weather phenomena, Mr. Somanath said.
Pallam Raju, Dean, Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), made a presentation on the DISHA H&L concept and the scientific instruments.