Mission Sun: Aditya L1 successfully undergoes third earth-bound manoeuvre, says ISRO

Aditya L1 spacecraft Indias first spacebased mission to study the Sun successfully underwent its third earthbound manoeuvre in the early hours of Sunday ISRO said The space agencys Telemetry Tracking and Command Network ISTRAC carried out the operationThe third Earthbound manoeuvre EBN3 is performed successfully from ISTRAC Bengaluru ISROs ground stations at Mauritius Bengaluru SDSCSHAR and Port Blair tracked the satellite during this operation the Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO said in a post on social media platform XThe new orbit attained is 296 km x 71767 km it said adding the next manoeuvre is scheduled on September 15 around 2 am AdityaL1 is the first Indian spacebased observatory that will study the Sun from a halo orbit around the first SunEarth Lagrangian point L1 which is located roughly 15 million km from the EarthThe first and second earthbound manoeuvres were successfully performed on September 3 and 5 respectively The spacecraft will undergo one more earthbound orbital manoeuvres before it is placed in the transfer orbit towards the Lagrange point L1The manoeuvres are required to be performed during the spacecrafts 16day journey around the earth during which it will gain the velocity necessary for its onward journey to L1 ISROs Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLVC57 had on September 2 successfully launched AdityaL1 from the Second Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre SriharikotaThe spacecraft is expected to arrive at the intended orbit at the L1 point after about 127 days the space agency had said soon after the launch According to ISRO a spacecraft placed in the halo orbit around the L1 point has the advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation or eclipses This will provide a greater advantage of observing solar activities and their effect on space weather in realtimeAdityaL1 carries seven scientific payloads developed indigenously by the ISRO and national research laboratories including the Indian Institute of Astrophysics Bengaluru and the InterUniversity Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics Pune The payloads will observe the photosphere chromosphere and the outermost layers of the Sun the corona using electromagnetic particle and magnetic field detectorsUsing the special vantage point L1 four payloads will directly view the Sun and the remaining three will carry out insitu studies of particles and fields at the Lagrange point L1 providing important data on the propagatory effect of solar dynamics in the interplanetary mediumThe suits of Aditya L1 payloads are expected to provide the most crucial information to understand the problem of coronal heating coronal mass ejection preflare and flare activities and their characteristics dynamics of space weather and propagation of particles and fieldsAccording to scientists there are five Lagrangian points or parking areas between the Earth and the Sun where a small object tends to stay put The Lagrange Points are named after ItalianFrench mathematician JosephLouis Lagrange These points in space can be used by spacecraft to remain there with reduced fuel consumptionAt a Lagrange point the gravitational pull of the two large bodies the Sun and the Earth equals the necessary centripetal force required for a small object to move with themThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever