Aditya L1

Aditya-L1 will stay approximately 1.5 million km away from earth, which is about 1% of the earth-sun distance. X/@isro

Spacecraft undergoes third earth-bound maneuver successfully, says ISRO; two more maneuvers are scheduled on September 15 and 18

Aditya L1 (Sun)

The third earth-bound manoeuvre of the Aditya L-1 spacecraft, India’s first space-based mission to study the sun, was successfully performed in the early hours of Sunday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

Aditya L1 (Journey towards Sun)

The maneuver was carried out by the Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru. “The third Earth-bound maneuver (EBN#3) is performed successfully from ISTRAC, Bengaluru. ISRO’s ground stations at Mauritius, Bengaluru, SDSC-SHAR and Port Blair tracked the satellite during this operation,” the ISRO posted on X.

The new orbit attained is 296 km x 71767 km, the space agency said. Two more maneuvers are scheduled to take place. “The next maneuver (EBN#4) is scheduled for September 15, 2023, around 02:00 Hrs. IST,” it said.

After the final maneuver on September 18, Aditya-L1 will undergo a Trans-Lagrangian1 insertion maneuver, marking the beginning of its 110-day trajectory to the destination around the L1 Lagrange point. Upon arrival at the L1 point, another maneuver will bind Aditya-L1 to an orbit around L1, a balanced gravitational location between the earth and the sun.

Aditya-L1 will stay approximately 1.5 million km away from earth, directed towards the sun, which is about 1% of the earth-sun distance.