Aditya L1 update: ISRO now targets September 15 date

Aditya L1 was launched on September 2, 2023, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) used the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C57 rocket) for the launch, which carried seven payloads onboard that will be used to study the Sun’s environment. ISRO reported that the spacecraft has successfully completed its third manoeuvre and it will go through a total of five phases till it moves towards the Lagrange point 1 (L1). The latest Aditya-L1 update is that ISRO is targeting September 15 as the next date to effect another manoeuvre.

Aditya L1 next step

Just after the landing of the Chandrayaan-3 lander to study the Moon, ISRO had launched another mission, which is focused on studying the Sun and its effects on space weather that affects the Earth. Aditya-L1 aims to reveal various secrets about the Sun. As of now, the spacecraft is on its 4-month journey to reach the Earth-sun system. Recently, the spacecraft went through a third manoeuvre and travelled to a new orbit at 296 km x 71767 km.

The next Aditya-L1 manoeuvre will take place on September 15 and after that, there will be a final shift until the spacecraft heads towards the Sun’s Lagrange point 1 (L1). It will be the first for India to enter the Sun orbit, making it another big victory if the spacecraft is successfully placed in the halo orbit.

The spacecraft will transition into the cruise phase once it has exited the Sphere of Influence (SOI), or Earth's gravitational pull, and then it will be placed into a large halo orbit around L1.

Aditya-L1 objectives

The mission objectives include a thorough understanding of the Sun's chromospheric and coronal heating and partially ionized plasma, the formation of the coronal mass ejections, and solar flares. The seven payloads are designed to study different layers of the sun, including the outermost layer from where the data about the coronal layer will be studied in real time. The mission will also study the formation and composition of solar wind and space weather. ISRO satellite also plans to send a warning when the solar winds change direction towards Earth at a speed of more than 600 km/sec.