ISRO's Aditya-L1 successfully completes its fourth Earth bound manoeuvre

The Aditya-L1 spacecraft, India's first space mission to study the sun, performed its fourth manoeuvre while still on Earth. According to an update from ISRO on X, the next manoeuvre for a send-off from the Earth is planned for September 19 at 02:00 IST. On September 10, the third manoeuvre was completed. "The fourth Earth-bound move (EBN#4) is successfully carried out. During this operation, the satellite was tracked by ISRO's ground stations in Mauritius, Bengaluru, SDSC-SHAR, and Port Blair, while a portable terminal for Aditya-L1 now stationed in the Fiji islands would assist post-burn activities, according to ISRO.

The new orbit achieved is 256 km x 121973 km, according to the space agency. Shifting the focus to its next space odyssey after successfully placing a lander on the moon's uncharted South Pole region, ISRO launched from Sriharikota -- the country's maiden solar mission named Aditya-L1. On September 3 and 5, the first and second earthbound movements were successfully completed. Before entering the transfer orbit towards the Lagrange point L1, the spacecraft will perform one final earthbound orbital maneuver. A total of five maneuvers will be carried out throughout the spacecraft's 16-day voyage around the Earth, during which it will build the velocity required for its subsequent journey to L1.

Launched by the PSLV-C57, the Aditya-L1 mission is India's solar mission, where the spacecraft will be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system. The total cost of this mission is estimated to be around Rs 400 crore. The Large range point as defined by NASA, refers to "positions in space where the gravitational forces of a two-body system like the Sun and Earth produce enhanced regions of attraction and repulsion." Placing the satellite in a halo orbit around L1 of the Sun-Earth system, which is about 1.5 million km from the Earth, enables continuous viewing of the Sun without any eclipses or obstructions. Aditya L1 is the first space-based Indian mission to study the Sun. Only two other space agencies have had their spacecraft reach L1 or the Lagrange point USA's National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA).