Aditya-L1 Gets Ready To Study The Sun After Performing 4th Earth-Bound Manoeuvre

India's first solar mission, Aditya-L1 successfully performed its fourth Earth-bound manoeuvre on Friday. In its latest update, Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) said that the next manoeuvre, a send-off from Earth, is scheduled for September 12, 2023 around 2 am IST.

Aditya-L1 succesfully took off on September 2, and had completed its third manoeuvre on September 10. "The fourth Earth-bound maneuvre (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," ISRO wrote on X.

Aditya-L1 Mission:
The fourth Earth-bound maneuvre (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¡­ pic.twitter.com/cPfsF5GIk5

¡ª ISRO (@isro) September 14, 2023

"The next maneuvre Trans-Lagragean Point 1 Insertion (TL1I) -- a send-off from the Earth -- is scheduled for September 19, 2023, around 02:00 Hrs. IST," the space agency added.

PTI

What will Aditya-L1 do?

This mission marks a series of feats of ISRO after the agency's Chandrayaan-3 mission made India the first country to land on the south pole region of the Moon.

The Aditya-L1 mission has seven payloads that will study the Sun, four of which will observe the light from the Sun and the other three will measure in-situ parameters of the plasma and magnetic fields.

Soon, Aditya-L1 will be placed in a halo orbit around Lagrangian Point 1 (L1) that is situated about 1.5 million kilometres away from the Earth towards the Sun's direction. This distance will be covered in four months. At this point between the Sun and the Moon, two opposing forces can help keep the spacecraft in orbit due to the constant pull and push.

Also read: Aditya-L1 Shares Images Of The Earth And Moon On Its Way To The Sun

NASA

Aditya-L1 doesn't intend to land on the Sun or to go any closer to it beyond L1. At this location, Aditya-L1 will be able to observe the Sun without being obstructed by eclipses or occultation, allowing scientists to make observations of solar activities and their impact on space weather. At the same time, the spacecraft's data will help identify processes that lead to solar events. This way, scientists will develop a better understanding of space weather.

Also read: Aditya-L1 Launch: Meet The Women Behind India¡¯s First Solar Mission

Unsplash

The main objectives of Aditya-L1 are to study the physics of solar corona and its heating mechanism, solar wind acceleration, solar atmosphere, solar wind distribution, and Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) and flares, among many things.

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