Bengaluru

Aditya L1, India's inaugural space-based mission to study the Sun, has successfully completed its second Earth-bound maneuver in the early hours of Tuesday, the Indian Space Research Organisation said.

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The next manoeuvre, EBN#3, is slated for September 10, 2023, around 02:30 hrs, Indian Standard Time.

Aditya-L1 is a groundbreaking Indian solar mission designed to study the Sun from a halo orbit around the first Sun-Earth Lagrangian point (L1), situated approximately 1.5 million km from Earth.

The first Earth-bound maneuver was executed successfully on September 3.

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The spacecraft will undergo two additional earth-bound orbital maneuvers before being placed into a transfer orbit toward Lagrange point L1. Aditya-L1 is anticipated to reach its intended orbit at L1 after approximately 127 days.

Also read | Aditya L-1 launch: India's solar mission lifts off, takes country closer to sun after moon landmark

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On September 2, ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C57) successfully launched the Aditya-L1 spacecraft from the Second Launch Pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota.

Following a 63-minute and 20-second flight, Aditya-L1 was successfully inserted into an elliptical orbit measuring 235x19500 km around Earth.

By positioning a satellite in a halo orbit around L1, ISRO gains the significant advantage of continuous, uninterrupted observations of the Sun, free from eclipses. This capability will greatly enhance India's ability to monitor solar activities and their impact on space weather in real-time.

Also watch | Aditya L1: First Indian space mission to study sun

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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) in Bengaluru and the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) in Pune.

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.

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. This will provide essential scientific insights into phenomena such as coronal heating, coronal mass ejections, pre-flare and flare activities, space weather dynamics, and the propagation of particles and fields in the interplanetary medium.

(With inputs from agencies)

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