ISRO prepares for crucial manoeuvre of Aditya-L1 solar probe

ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) is preparing to takea major step in its Aditya-L1 solar mission. On Saturday (January 6) it will carry out a crucial manoeuvre to put the spacecraft in its final destination orbit, which is 1.5 million kilometres from Earth. Aditya-L1 is India's first space-based observatory which will study the Sun.

The spacecraft is to ultimately be put in a halo orbit around the Lagrange Point 1 (L1) in the Sun-Earth system. Th L1 point is located at about one per cent of the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

Watch | India: Aditya L1, ISRO’s mission to study Sun, to be placed in final orbit

"This manoeuvre (at around 4 pm on Saturday) will bind the Aditya-L1 to a halo orbit around L1. If we don't do this, there is a possibility that it will continue its journey, maybe towards the Sun," an ISRO official was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.

Aditya-L1's placement around the L1 point will give it a major advantage as from that point, it will be able to continuously observe the Sun without any occultation or eclipses creating impediments. This in turn would enable observation of solar activities and its effect on space as well as Earth in real time.

Aditya-L1 was launched on September 2 last year from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in India using ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C57).

The spacecraft escaped Earth's sphere of influence and then headed for the L1 point.

"Using the special vantage point L1, four payloads directly view the Sun and the remaining three payloads carry out in-situ studies of particles and fields at the Lagrange point L1, thus providing important scientific studies of the propagatory effect of solar dynamics in the interplanetary medium," said ISRO.

Some objectives of Aditya-L1 mission:

• It will study chromospheric and coronal heating and also physics of the partially ionized plasma, initiation of the coronal mass ejections, and flares.
• Aditya-L1 will make observations on in-situ particle and plasma environment. It will provide data for the study of particle dynamics ofthe Sun.
• It will examine diagnostics of the coronal and coronal loop's plasma

(With inputs from agencies)