Aditya-L1 Spacecraft Begins Journey to Monitor the Sun
Today, on September 2, 2023, at 11.50 AM, the Aditya-L1 spacecraft was successfully launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC-SHAR), Sriharikota. Currently, the spacecraft is in excellent condition and is en route to the Sun-Earth system’s Lagrange point (L1). Its intended destination is situated more than 1.5 million km away from Earth, and it is estimated to take approximately 125 days to reach the halo orbit. Discover the spacecraft’s trajectory towards the Sun.
Aditya-L1: Journey to the Sun
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched the PSLV XL rocket as part of the Aditya-L1 mission. The rocket consists of seven payloads, which are used to study the Sun’s activity. According to reports, four of the payloads will study sunlight and the other three will measure plasma and magnetic field parameters in situ.
The satellite will be placed at the Lagrange point (L1) of the Sun-Earth system. It initially consists of five Lagrange points known as L1, L2, L3, L4 and L5. ISRO reports that L1’s distance from Earth is about 1% of the Earth-Sun distance.
During the spacecraft’s trajectory towards L1, it first leaves the Earth’s gravitational pull, called the sphere of influence (SOI). The spacecraft then enters the cruise phase and is finally placed in a large halo orbit around L1. The entire journey from launch to L1 is expected to take about four months for Aditya-L1.
The spacecraft has finally launched and completed the first three separation stages. The fourth and final separation is now being carried out, allowing the satellite to move towards the planned location where the mission to explore the Sun will begin.
Aditya-L1 goals
The aim of the mission is to gain a deeper understanding of the heating of the Sun’s chromosphere and corona, the physics of partially ionized plasma, the formation of coronal mass ejections and solar flares. It explores different layers, including the outermost layer of the Sun. In addition, it plans to study the formation and composition of the solar wind and space weather.
