New Delhi, India

Aditya L1, India’s maiden space-based mission to study the Sun, successfully completed its fourth Earth-bound manoeuvre in the early hours of Friday (September 15), said the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The manoeuvre was said to be a crucial step as the Indian space agency seeks to place the spacecraft in a halo orbit around the Lagrange Point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system.

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Aditya-L1 completes fourth Earth-bound manoeuvre

“The fourth Earth-bound maneuvre (EBN#4) is performed successfully,” said ISRO, in a post on X, formerly Twitter. It added, “ISRO’s ground stations at Mauritius, Bengaluru, SDSC-SHAR and Port Blair tracked the satellite during this operation, while a transportable terminal currently stationed in the Fiji islands for Aditya-L1  will support post-burn operations.”

After the latest manoeuvre, the new orbit attained is 256 km x 121973 km, according to the Indian space agency. “The next maneuvre Trans-Lagragean Point 1 Insertion (TL1I) – a send-off from the Earth – is scheduled for September 19, 2023, around 02:00 Hrs. IST,” said ISRO. 

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About Aditya-L1 mission

India’s maiden sun mission was launched on September 2 from the Second Launch Pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota. The spacecraft has undergone three Earth-bound manoeuvres, with the first, second and third taking place on September 3, 5 and 10 respectively. 

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The manoeuvres are being performed during the spacecraft’s 16-day journey around the Earth where the spacecraft will gain the necessary velocity for its further journey to L1. The L1 point was discovered by mathematician Joseph Louis Lagrange. 

It is considered to be the most significant of the Lagrangian points for observation of the Sun.

Aditya-L1 is equipped with seven scientific payloads developed indigenously by the ISRO and various national research laboratories, including the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) and the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), in the Indian cities of Bengaluru and Pune, respectively.

These payloads are designed to study the photosphere, chromosphere, and the outermost layers of the Sun, known as the corona, using electromagnetic, particle, and magnetic field detectors.

ALSO READ | Explained | What will ISRO study in Aditya-L1 mission as it aims for the Sun

Positioned at the advantageous L1 point, four of these payloads will directly observe the Sun, while the remaining three will conduct in-situ studies of particles and fields at Lagrange point L1. 

Notably, the launch of Aditya-L1 came barely 10 days after ISRO successfully soft-landed the Chandrayaan-3 craft near the lunar south pole, thereby making India the first nation to do so.

(With inputs from agencies) 

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