“Istrac/Isro 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.
The next maneuvre — third of the five Earth-bound manoeuvres scheduled — is scheduled for 2.30am on September 10.
On Sunday (September 3), a day after Aditya-L1 was launched on a PSLV from Sriharikota, Isro had completed the first Earth-bound manoeuvre and put the spacecraft in an orbit of 245km x 22459 km,.
Aditya-L1 is a satellite dedicated to the comprehensive study of the Sun. It has seven distinct payloads — five by Isro and two by academic institutions in collaboration with Isro — developed indigenously.
Aditya means Sun and L1 — about 1.5-million-km from Earth — refers to Lagrange Point-1 of the Sun-Earth system. For common understanding, L1 is a location in space where the gravitational forces of two celestial bodies, such as the Sun and Earth, are in equilibrium. This allows an object placed there to remain relatively stable with respect to both celestial bodies.
Tuesday’s manoeuvre marked the second of the five Earth-bound manoeuvres it needs to perform in the 16 days (from launch date) it spend around Earth, during which the spacecraft will gain the necessary velocity for its journey.
Subsequently, Aditya-L1 will undergo a Trans-Lagrangian1 Insertion (TLI) manoeuvre, marking the beginning of its 110-day trajectory to the destination around L1. Upon arrival at the L1 point, another manoeuvre binds Aditya-L1 to an orbit around L1, a balanced gravitational location between the Earth and the Sun.
The satellite will spend its whole mission life orbiting around L1 in an irregularly shaped orbit in a plane roughly perpendicular to the line joining the Earth and the Sun.
The strategic placement at the L1 Lagrange point ensures that Aditya-L1 can maintain a constant, uninterrupted view of the Sun. This location also allows the satellite to access solar radiation and magnetic storms before they are influenced by Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere.
Additionally, the L1 point’s gravitational stability minimises the need for frequent orbital maintenance efforts, optimising the satellite’s operational efficiency.
India’s solar mission comes close on the heels of its successful lunar endeavour — Chandrayaan-3. With Aditya-L1, Isro will venture into the study of solar activities and its effect on space weather. The scientific objectives of Aditya-L1 include the study of coronal heating, solar wind acceleration, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), dynamics of solar atmosphere and temperature anisotropy.
