Aditya L-1 update: ISRO successfully performs first Earth-bound maneuvre, satellite operating nominally

A day after launching its Aditya L-1 mission to study the Sun, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday performed the first Earth-bound maneuvre successfully from its command centre in Bengaluru. The new orbit attained is 245km x 22459 km. "The satellite is healthy and operating nominally," the space agency said. "The next maneuvre is scheduled for September 5, 2023, around 03:00 Hrs."

The ISRO on Saturday launched its first space-based mission to study the Sun from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. "The vehicle has placed the satellite precisely into its intended orbit. India's first solar observatory has begun its journey to the destination of Sun-Earth L1 point," the space agency said. This comes just weeks after the ISRO successfully landed its third lunar mission, Chandryaan-3, on the south pole of the Moon.  

The spacecraft, Aditya L-1, will be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, which is about 1.5 million km from the Earth. A satellite placed in the halo orbit around the L1 point has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/eclipses. 

"This will provide a greater advantage of observing the solar activities and its effect on space weather in real-time," the space agency said. The spacecraft carries seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere and the outermost layers of the Sun (the corona) using electromagnetic particle and magnetic field detectors. 

Using the special vantage point L1, four payloads directly view the Sun and the remaining three payloads carry out in-situ studies of particles and fields at the Lagrange point L1, thus providing important scientific studies of the propagatory effect of solar dynamics in the interplanetary medium. 

The suits of Aditya L1 payloads are expected to provide crucial information to understand the problem of coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, pre-flare and flare activities and their characteristics, dynamics of space weather, propagation of particles and fields etc.

 Meanwhile, ISRO on Saturday said that the Chandrayaan-3 rover Pragyan had completed its assignments and it was now safely parked and set into sleep mode. "APXS and LIBS payloads are turned off. Data from these payloads is transmitted to the Earth via the Lander," it said. 

The space agency said that currently, the battery was fully charged. "The solar panel is oriented to receive the light at the next sunrise expected on September 22, 2023. The receiver is kept on. Hoping for a successful awakening for another set of assignments! Else, it will forever stay there as India's lunar ambassador."