The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in its latest update on the mission to Sun, Aditya-L1, said that the second Earth-bound manoeuvre was performed successfully. The operation was performed from Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru.
“The second Earth-bound maneuvre (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. The next maneuvre (EBN#3) is scheduled for September 10, 2023, around 02:30 Hrs. IST, (sic)” it posted on microblogging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Aditya-L1’s first Earth-bound manoeuvre was performed on September 3.
EBMs refer to orbit-raising manoeuvres that are performed to at Earth’s perigee or the farthest point in the orbit of the planet.
ISRO launched the Aditya-L1 mission to study the Sun. The spacecraft will be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 or L1 of the Sun-Earth system, about 1.5 million km away. It will be able to view the Sun without any eclipses or occultation.
Aditya-L1 will observe solar activities and its effect on space weather in real time. ISRO’s mission will observe the photosphere, chromosphere and the outermost layers of the Sun (the corona) using electromagnetic and particle and magnetic field detectors.
Aditya-L1 is carrying seven payloads, out of which four are deployed to directly view the Sun and three to carry out in-situ studies of particles and fields at the Lagrange point L1.
The objectives of Aditya-L1 include study of the solar upper atmospheric dynamics, study of chromospheric and coronal heating, observation of the in-situ particle and plasma environment, magnetic field topology and magnetic field measurements in the solar corona, and drivers for space weather.
Also read: Why was Aditya-L1 launched? A closer look at India’s first mission to the Sun
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