New Delhi, Jan 28 (IANS): ISRO's Aditya-L1 mission, which will study the sun, will likely be launched this year, the Indian space agency's former chief A.S. Kiran Kumar said Friday.

"Mars Orbiter Mission has completed 7 years studying Mars. AstroSat mission is the first dedicated astronomical observatory that India has put in orbit. It is a large collaboration between many national institutes and has provided data for a large number of important studies in astronomical research.

"Chandrayaan 2 orbiter is healthy, and all payloads are operational. The spacecraft can remain functional for many more years. The data obtained till now has already resulted in many publications," he said at the Indo-US Workshop on "Space Radiation Workshop: Radiation Characterisation from Sun to Earth, Moon, Mars and Beyond" held from January 24 to 28.

He also said that in future, ISRO and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will be collaborating on a lunar exploration mission.

The workshop was supported by the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum and hosted by the Aryabhatta Research Institute for Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital, an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology, and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune.

Part of the activities commemorating "75 years of India's Independence: Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav" at ARIES, the five-day workshop had a theme for each day - Earth, Air, and Spaceflight, Exploration, Space Radiation & Biology, Space Situational Awareness & Opportunities.