NEW DELHI: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Tuesday that Aditya-L1 has completed its first halo orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrangian point 1 (L1). According to ISRO, the Aditya-L1 spacecraft takes 178 days to complete one orbit around the L1 point.
To maintain this orbit, the spacecraft performed three adjustments on February 22, June 7, and July 2. These manoeuvres keep the spacecraft on track by countering forces that might push it off course. As a result, Aditya-L1 has now moved into its second halo orbit.
ISRO has several goals for this mission. Just as earthquakes happen on Earth, solar “earthquakes,” known as coronal mass ejections, occur on the Sun. Studying the Sun is essential to understanding these solar vibrations. India’s first solar mission, Aditya, is equipped with seven instruments to explore the Sun’s past, present, and future.
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On Tuesday, ISRO used its advanced flight dynamics software for a successful manoeuvre, as shown in a chart by the space agency.
The blue line in the chart represents the spacecraft’s orbit around L1, viewed from above. SK#1, SK#2, and SK#3 are the adjustments made to keep it on course. The final adjustment on July 2 ensured it stayed in the correct orbit, preventing it from drifting along the green path. The X and Y axes show distances in kilometers, with L1 at the center.
“With today’s manoeuvre, our advanced flight dynamics software developed at ISRO for the Aditya-L1 mission is fully validated,” ISRO stated.
The Aditya-L1 mission aims to study the Sun’s upper atmosphere, specifically the chromosphere and corona. Its goals include understanding how these layers heat up, exploring the physics of ionized plasma, and examining solar events like coronal mass ejections and flares.
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The mission will observe the environment of particles and plasma around the Sun, study the physics of the solar corona, analyze plasma properties, and track the development of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). It also aims to identify what causes solar eruptions, measure magnetic fields in the corona, and investigate space weather factors like the solar wind.
This mission is a significant step in understanding the Sun’s behavior and its impact on space weather, which can affect Earth’s satellite operations, communications, and power systems.