BENGALURU: A day after it launched the Aditya-L1 spacecraft, India’s first mission to study the Sun, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday carried out the first orbit-raising manoeuvre.
In a statement, the space agency said, “The satellite is healthy and operating nominally. The first Earth-bound manoeuvre (EBN#1) is performed successfully from ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bengaluru.”
The first Earth-bound firing to raise the orbit was scheduled for around 11.45 am Sunday, which was completed successfully. The new orbit attained is 245km x 22459km. “The next manoeuvre (EBN#2) is scheduled for September 5, 2023, around 03:00 hrs IST,” said ISRO.
September 3 marked the first of the 16 days Aditya-L1 will stay in Earth-bound orbits. The satellite will go through four more manoeuvres around Earth post, and the spacecraft will be slingshot towards the L1 point. It will take approximately 125 Earth days to reach the L1(Lagrange Point) point of the Sun.
Lagrange Point is a point in space between the Sun and Earth where their respective gravitational pulls equal each other. This point enables the satellite to move with the Earth, saving fuel and any obstruction from eclipses.