Aditya L1 successfully undergoes fourth earth-bound manoeuvre: ISRO

ISRO's Aditya L1 spacecraft achieved a new orbit of 256 km x 121973 km during its fourth earth-bound manouvre and the the next manoeuvre Trans-Lagragean Point 1 Insertion (TL1I), which will be a send-off from the Earth, is scheduled for September 19, around 02:00 Hrs. IST, said ISRO. Aditya L1 is India's first space-based mission to study the Sun.

Bengaluru : Aditya L1 spacecraft, India's first space-based mission to study the Sun, during the early hours on Friday, underwent the fourth earth-bound manoeuvre successfully, ISRO said.

"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, a platform formerly known as Twitter.

The new orbit attained is 256 km x 121973 km, it said: "The next manoeuvre Trans-Lagragean Point 1 Insertion (TL1I) -- a send-off from the Earth -- is scheduled for September 19, around 02:00 Hrs. IST." Aditya-L1 is the first Indian space-based observatory to study the Sun from a halo orbit around the first Sun-Earth Lagrangian point (L1), which is located roughly 1.5 million km from the Earth.

• Aditya-L1 Mission:
  The fourth Earth-bound maneuvre (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… pic.twitter.com/cPfsF5GIk5

  — ISRO (@isro) September 14, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  Aditya-L1 Mission:
  The fourth Earth-bound maneuvre (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… pic.twitter.com/cPfsF5GIk5

  — ISRO (@isro) September 14, 2023

  ">

  Aditya-L1 Mission:
  The fourth Earth-bound maneuvre (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… pic.twitter.com/cPfsF5GIk5

  — ISRO (@isro) September 14, 2023

The first, second and third earth-bound manoeuvre was successfully performed on September 3, 5 and 10 respectively. The manoeuvres are being performed during the spacecraft's 16-day journey around the Earth during which the spacecraft will gain the necessary velocity for its further journey to L1.
With the completion of four earth-bound orbital manoeuvres, Aditya-L1 will next undergo a Trans-Lagrangian1 insertion manoeuvre, marking the beginning of its nearly 110-day trajectory to the destination around the L1 Lagrange point.

Upon arrival at the L1 point, another manoeuvre binds Aditya L1 to an orbit around L1, a balanced gravitational location between the Earth and the Sun.
The satellite spends its whole mission life orbiting around L1 in an irregularly shaped orbit in a plane roughly perpendicular to the line joining the Earth and the Sun.

ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C57) on September 2 successfully launched the Aditya-L1 spacecraft from the Second Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota. After a flight duration of 63 minutes and 20 seconds that day, the Aditya-L1 spacecraft was successfully injected into an elliptical orbit of 235x19500 km around the Earth. (PTI)