ISRO’s Aditya L1 successfully made 3rd land mission

Aditya L1 Mission: Aditya-L1, India’s first solar mission, has successfully performed its third land maneuver, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said on Sunday. The new orbit found by the satellite is 296km x 71767 km. A total of five orbit drives will be performed during the satellite’s orbit around the Earth of which three have been successfully performed.

In a post on X, a local agency wrote, “Third land acquisition (EBN#3) was successfully conducted from ISTRAC, Bengaluru. ISRO’s ground stations in Mauritius, Bengaluru, SDSC-SHAR and Port Blair tracked the satellite during the mission. The new orbit found is 296 km x 71767 km.”

“The next technique (EBN#4) is scheduled for 15 September 2023, around 02:00 Hrs. IST,” ISRO said.

Previously, the second maneuver around the earth was successfully performed on September 5, achieving an orbit of 282 km x 40225 km while the 1st was performed on September 3.

What does the increasing orbit of Aditya L1 mean?

An orbital manoeuvre, also called a burn-in, is standard protocol during spaceflight. During this operation, the orbit of the satellite or spacecraft, is increased by using propulsion systems. This process will include rocket firing and angle adjustments. To understand the process, take the example of a person on a swing. To make the swing go up, pressure is applied when the swing comes down to the ground. Likewise, once Aditya L1 gets enough speed, it will throw the sling around on its way to L1.

Meanwhile, after the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 near the moon’s south pole, ISRO had launched the country’s solar mission-Aditya-L1 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota on September 2.

It carries seven different payloads to obtain a detailed study of the Sun, four of which will observe the light from the Sun and the other three will measure the in-situ parameters of the plasma and magnetism.

Aditya-L1 will be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrangian Point 1 (or L1), which is at a distance of 1.5 million kilometers from Earth on the solar side. It is expected to complete the distance in four months. It will sit about 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, facing the Sun, which is about one percent of the distance between the Earth and the Sun. The Sun is a gas giant and Aditya-L1 will study the Sun’s outer atmosphere.

ISRO has said that Aditya-L1 will not land on or near the sun.

This strategic location will enable Aditya-L1 to continue observing the sun without being interrupted by eclipses or eclipses, allowing scientists to study the sun’s activity and its effects on the local climate in real time. Also, spacecraft data will help identify the sequence of processes that lead to solar flare events and contribute to a deeper understanding of local climate drivers.

The main objectives of the Indian solar mission include studying the physics of the solar corona and its heating mechanism, the acceleration of the solar wind, the convergence and dynamics of the solar wind, the distribution of the solar wind and thermal anisotropy, and the origin of Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) and flares and near-Earth space weather.

Aditya-L1 is a satellite dedicated to a comprehensive study of the sun, which will discover unknown facts about the sun. The satellite will orbit the Earth for 16 days, during which it will make five revolutions to gain the necessary speed to reach its destination.

After that, Adiya-L1 will enter the trans-Lagrangian1 mode which will last 110 days. The satellite will travel approximately 15 million kilometers to the L1 location. On reaching the L1 position, another manuver binds Aditya-L1 in an orbit around L1, the equal point of gravity between the Earth and the Sun, according to information shared on ISRO’s official website.

(With inputs from ANI)