Bengaluru/New Delhi: Aditya-L1 reached its designated destination at the Lagrange point, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said, adding that the spacecraft was successfully inserted into Halo orbit at approximately 4:00 PM today.
The Aditya L1 spacecraft mission is an Indian solar observatory at Lagrangian point L1 for “Observing and understanding the chromospheric and coronal dynamics of the Sun” in a continuous manner. It was launched by PSLV-P57 on September 2, 2023, and it underwent a cruise phase lasting approximately 110 days to reach the Halo orbit.
Placing the Aditya-L1 in a halo orbit around the L1 point has advantages as compared to placing it in a Low Earth Orbit (LEO):
- It provides a smooth Sun-spacecraft velocity change throughout the orbit, appropriate for helioseismology.
- It is outside of the magnetosphere of Earth, thus suitable for the “in situ” sampling of the solar wind and particles.
- It allows unobstructed, continuous observation of the Sun and view of Earth for enabling continuous communication to ground stations.
The Halo orbit insertion of the spacecraft presented a critical mission phase, which demanded precise navigation and control. A successful insertion further involved constant monitoring along with the adjustment of the spacecraft’s speed and position by using onboard thrusters. The final phase of the manoeuvre involved the firing of control engines for a short duration.
The success of this insertion not only signifies ISRO’s capabilities in such complex orbital manoeuvres, but it gives confidence to handle future interplanetary missions.
The orbit of the Aditya-L1 spacecraft is a periodic, three-dimensional Halo orbit at L1 involving the Sun, Earth and a spacecraft, which is located roughly 1.5 million km from Earth on the continuously moving Sun–Earth line with an orbital period of about 177.86 Earth days. This specific Halo orbit was selected to ensure a mission lifetime of 5 years, minimizing station-keeping manoeuvres and thus fuel consumption and ensuring a continuous, unobstructed view of the Sun.
Aditya L1 was designed and realized at UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) with participation from various ISRO centres. The payloads onboard Aditya L1 were developed by Indian scientific laboratories, IIA, IUCA and ISRO.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the feat of India’s first solar observatory Aditya-L1 reaching its destination, “a testament to the relentless dedication of our scientists in realising among the most complex and intricate space missions”.
Union Minister for Space Dr Jitendra Singh said, “From Moon walk to Sun Dance!, Aditya L1 marks ISRO’s success trilogy with three success stories, one after the other, in quick succession… Chandrayaan 3, XPoSat and Aditya L1 at the Lagrange point.! What a glorious turn of year for Bharat!”
– global bihari bureau
