The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the Aditya L1, its first space-based Indian mission to study the Sun, on September 2. The spacecraft will reach its L1 point after completing several manoeuvres. The Indian space agency has announced that it has successfully performed the second Earth-bound manoeuvre.
ISRO said that its Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) carried out the operation.
“The second Earth-bound manoeuvre (EBN#2) is performed successfully from ISTRAC, Bengaluru. ISTRAC/ISRO’s ground stations at Mauritius, Bengaluru and Port Blair tracked the satellite during this operation. The new orbit attained is 282 km x 40225 km,” ISRO said in a post on X.
The next manoeuvre is scheduled for September 10, 2023, around 02:30 Hrs. IST, it said. The spacecraft will undergo two more earth-bound orbital manoeuvres before being placed in the transfer orbit towards the Lagrange point L1.
Aditya-L1 mission objectives
Aditya-L1 will study the Sun from a halo orbit around the first Sun-earth Lagrangian point (L1), which is located roughly 1.5 million km from Earth. It is expected to arrive at the intended orbit after about 127 days.
Aditya-L1 is carrying seven scientific payloads developed by ISRO and national research laboratories including the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, and Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune.
The payloads will observe the photosphere, chromosphere and the outermost layers of the Sun (the corona) using electromagnetic particle and magnetic field detectors.
The advantage of placing Aditya-L1 in the halo orbit around the L1 point is that it can continuously view the Sun without any occultation /eclipses. This will provide a greater advantage in observing solar activities and their effect on space weather in real time.
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