The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on Tuesday confimed that Aditya L1, the first space based Indian mission to study the Sun, successfully underwent the second earth-bound manoeuvre during the early hours. The operation was reportedly spearheaded by ISRO's Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC).The first earth-bound manoeuvre was successfully performed on September 3.
"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 (formerly Twitter).
The next manoeuvre (EBN#3) is scheduled for September 10, 2023, around 02:30 Hrs. IST, it said.
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Aditya-L1 is India's maiden endeavour to set up a space based observatory to closely study the Sun from a halo orbit around first sun-earth Lagrangian point (L1), which is located roughly 1.5 million km from earth.
It has been reported that the spacecraft is scheduled to undergo two more earth-bound orbital manoeuvres before placing in the transfer orbit towards the Lagrange point L1. Aditya-L1 is expected to arrive at the intended orbt iat the L1 point after about 127 days.
About ISRO's mainden voyage to Sun
ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C57) on September 2 had successfully launched the Aditya-L1 spacecraft, from the Second Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota.After a flight duration of 63 minutes and 20 seconds, Aditya-L1 spacecraft was successfully injected into an elliptical orbit of 235x19500 km around the earth.
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The mission is designed with absolute precision with an aim to station the Aditya-L1 in a highly elliptical orbit in a bid to enable close observations of the Sun which will include monitoring solar activity, and advanced understanding of the star that sustains life on Earth.
It has been reported that the spacecraft is equipped with a Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) which will be used for imaging and spectroscopy of the Sun to better understand the science powering the star.
Moreover, the spacecraft also houses the advantages of deploying six other instruments to explore the science of the Sun.
Amongst the seven payloads, four will directly view the Sun from the unique vantage point of L1, known to have an uninterrupted view of the Sun, the remaining three payloads will carry out in-situ studies of particles and fields at the Lagrange point L1.
The L1 point is currently housing the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Satellite SOHO from the United State's space organization NASA.
