New Delhi, Sep 19 – In the early hours of Tuesday, the Indian space agency successfully launched the Aditya-L1 solar observatory towards the Sun, precisely placing it at Trans-Lagrangian Point 1. India’s space-based solar observatory, Aditya-L1, was deployed at Trans-Lagrangian Point 1 at 2 am on Tuesday, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said.
“The spacecraft is now following a trajectory that will take it to the Sun-Earth L1 point. About 110 days from now, it will be moved into an orbit around L1,” ISRO said. This achievement is the fifth incident in which ISRO has effectively redirected an object towards a different celestial body or location in space. In previous missions, ISRO has redirected the spacecraft three times towards the Moon and once towards Mars. This recent mission to the Sun represents the fifth successful trajectory transfer.
Using the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle – XL (PSLV-XL) variant, Aditya-L1 was initially launched into low Earth orbit (LEO)on 2 September. Since then, ISRO has raised the orbit of the spacecraft four times. As the spacecraft travels toward the Lagrange point (L1), it will depart from Earth’s gravitational field of influence (SOI). After this departure, the cruise phase will begin, which will eventually lead the spacecraft to enter a large halo orbit around L1. L1 is the point where the gravitational forces of two important celestial bodies, the Sun and the Earth, are in balance, ensuring that the spacecraft remains unaffected by the gravitational pull of either planet.
Aditya-L1 is expected to take about four months for the entire journey from launch to L1, covering a distance of about 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.
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