Aditya L1 successfully undergoes fourth earth-bound maneuvre
Bengaluru: Aditya L1 spacecraft, India’s first space-based mission to study the Sun underwent the fourth earth-bound manoeuvre successfully in the early hours of Friday, ISRO said.
The manoeuvre was said to be a crucial step as the Indian space agency is seeking to place the spacecraft in halo orbit around the Lagrange Point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system.
“The fourth Earth-bound manoeuvre (EBN#4) is performed successfully. ISRO’s ground stations at Mauritius, Bengaluru, SDSC-SHAR and Port Blair tracked the satellite during this operation, while a transportable terminal currently stationed in the Fiji islands for Aditya-L1 will support post-burn operations,” the space agency said in a post on X.
The new orbit attained is 256 km x 121973 km.
The next maneuvre, Trans-Lagragean Point 1 Insertion (TL1I), which marks a send-off from the Earth, is scheduled for around 2 am on September 19, Isro said.
India’s maiden sun mission was launched on September 2, from the Second Launch Pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota. The spacecraft has undergone three earth-bound manoeuvres with the first, second and third taking place on September 3, 5 and 10 respectively.
