India’s first solar mission the Aditya L-1 was launched on Sunday, that is 3rd September from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh launch pad and will be studying solar winds on its 127 days of journey.
After the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, this is another big one for the Indian space sector. But one trivia that has come out about the development of the mission was how some scientists had to restrict themselves from using any type of perfume or sprays while working.
One would think that perhaps the reason for banning perfume and such things was because of fear of fear or them being a danger of combustibility.
Why Were Perfumes Forbidden?
A team of scientists and engineers from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) were working on the main payload of the Aditya L-1 solar mission which is the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC).
Working in Bengaluru on the preparation of the payload the team actually followed an extremely strict set of rules in order to make sure that absolutely no errors happened.
While carrying out the calibration process at the vibration and thermotech facility located in Hoskote the team worked in an extremely sterile environment.
Read More: What Is “Aditya-L1,” India’s First Mission To Sun?
The area was said to be 1-lakh times cleaner than a hospital ICU and the team would wear futuristic explorer-like suits, go through ultrasonic cleaning, and more to make sure that there was no electrostatic discharge and contamination of any kind.
Nagabushana S, VELC technical team head, speaking with the Sunday Times of India said “It (cleanroom) had to be kept 1-lakh times cleaner than a hospital ICU.”
Sanal Krishna from IIA, VELC technical team member further explained that, “We used HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filters, isopropyl alcohol (99 percent concentrated), and rigorous protocols to ensure no foreign particles caused disruptions. A single particle discharge could have undone days of hard work.”
Apparently, this was only done by the IIA team and not by ISRO scientists who, while agreeing that the cleanrooms needed to maintain sterile quality did not stop themselves from wearing perfumes or deodorant.
TOI spoke to around 3 ISRO scientists none of whom took similar steps as the IIA scientists and one was quoted saying “Maybe the IIA scientists were taking extra precaution.”
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Feature Image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: Firstpost, The Economic Times, Moneycontrol
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This post is tagged under: Aditya-L1, Aditya-L1 mission, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Aditya-L1 scientists, iia, isro, india space, india sun mission, Aditya-L1 solar mission, Aditya-L1 solar mission scientists, Aditya-L1 scientists perfume, solar mission, perfume
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