The Indian Space Research Oganisation (ISRO) announced Tuesday that Aditya-L1 has completed its first halo orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrangian point 1.
Representative Image: The Indian Space Research Oganisation (ISRO) launched the Aditya L1 solar observatory becoming only the fourth space agency in the world to launch a solar mission.
(CESSI / IISER-Kolkata)Aditya-L1 put into second orbitThe Indian space agency said that to maintain this orbit, the Aditya-L1 spacecraft underwent three station-keeping manoeuvres – on February 22, June 7, and July 2, ensuring its transition into the second halo orbit.
Aditya-L1's journey around the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrangian point requires careful planning and understanding of various forces that can push it off course.
The Aditya-L1 mission aims to study the Sun's upper atmosphere, focusing on the chromosphere and corona.
The Indian Space Research Oganisation (ISRO) announced Tuesday that Aditya-L1 has completed its first halo orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrangian point 1. Inserted on January 6, it took 178 days to complete the revolution. Representative Image: The Indian Space Research Oganisation (ISRO) launched the Aditya L1 solar observatory becoming only the fourth space agency in the world to launch a solar mission. (CESSI / IISER-Kolkata)
Aditya-L1 put into second orbit
The Indian space agency said that to maintain this orbit, the Aditya-L1 spacecraft underwent three station-keeping manoeuvres – on February 22, June 7, and July 2, ensuring its transition into the second halo orbit. These manoeuvres counteract perturbing forces that could push the spacecraft off course, it added.
How hard is it to keep Aditya-L1 in orbit?
Aditya-L1's journey around the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrangian point requires careful planning and understanding of various forces that can push it off course. By studying these forces, ISRO could accurately plot the spacecraft's path and plan necessary adjustments.
Tuesday's manoeuvre successfully used ISRO's advanced flight dynamics software, the space agency showed via chart (check below).
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Aditya-L1 revolution in halo orbit.(ISRO)
The blue line in the figure shows the orbit around L1, projected in the X-Y plane. SK#1, 2, and 3 are the adjustments made to keep the spacecraft on track. The final adjustment (SK#3) on July 2 ensured it stayed in the correct orbit. Without this, it would have veered off along the green path. The X-Y axes are marked in kilometers, with L1 at the centre.
"With today's manoeuvre, the state-of-the-art flight dynamics software developed in-house at URSC-ISRO for the Aditya-L1 missions stands fully validated," ISRO said.
What are the objectives of Aditya-L1?
The Aditya-L1 mission aims to study the Sun's upper atmosphere, focusing on the chromosphere and corona. Its objectives include investigating heating mechanisms, ionised plasma physics, coronal mass ejections, and flares.
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It is sent to observe the particle and plasma environment, examine solar corona physics, diagnose plasma properties, and study the development of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The mission also aims to identify processes leading to solar eruptions, measure magnetic fields in the corona, and investigate space weather drivers like the solar wind.
