In a remarkable achievement, ISRO on Friday informed that India’s pioneering Aditya L1 spacecraft, dedicated to studying the Sun, successfully completed its fourth Earth-bound manoeuvre. ISRO’s post on the platform formerly known as Twitter, now called ‘X,’ stated, “The fourth Earth-bound manoeuvre (EBN#4) is performed successfully. 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. The new orbit attained is 256 km x 121973 km.”
What’s next for Aditya L1?
The next pivotal step in ISRO’s solar mission journey is the Trans-Lagrangean Point 1 Insertion (TL1I), which is scheduled for September 19 at around 02:00 Hrs IST. The Trans-Lagrangian 1 insertion manoeuvre, marks the initiation of its approximately 110-day trajectory to reach the L1 Lagrange point. Upon arrival, another manoeuvre will bind Aditya L1 to an orbit around L1, a gravitationally balanced point between Earth and the Sun.
From this vantage point, Aditya-L1 will spend its mission life orbiting in an irregularly shaped pattern, perpendicular to the line connecting Earth and the Sun. One of the significant advantages of a spacecraft placed in the halo orbit around L1 is its continuous view of the Sun without any occultation or eclipses. This enables real-time observation of solar activities and their impact on space weather.
The previous three earth-bound manoeuvres were successfully executed on September 3, 5, and 10, respectively. These manoeuvres are crucial in imparting the necessary velocity to the spacecraft during its 16-day journey around Earth, enabling it to reach L1.
When will the payloads come in use?
Aditya-L1 is equipped with seven scientific payloads developed by ISRO and 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 will study the photosphere, chromosphere, and the Sun’s outermost layers, the corona, using electromagnetic particle and magnetic field detectors.
Four of the payloads directly observe the Sun, while the remaining three perform in-situ studies of particles and fields at the Lagrange point L1, providing essential insights into solar dynamics in the interplanetary medium. The data collected by Aditya-L1’s payloads will contribute significantly to understanding coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, solar flare activities, space weather dynamics, and the propagation of particles and fields.
In scientific terms, Lagrange points are specific positions in space, named after Italian-French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange, where a small object can remain with minimal fuel consumption due to the gravitational equilibrium between two large bodies, in this case, the Sun and Earth. Aditya L1’s mission at L1 holds the potential for groundbreaking solar research and a deeper understanding of our Sun’s behavior.