Aditya-L1 Mission: Solar observatory shooting toward the Sun to its parking spot

The first solar observatory that India will get is through the ISRO project called the Aditya-L1 mission. Aditya-L1 mission objectives include the full exploration of the Sun from a unique vantage point.

Launched on September 2, 2023, the Aditya-L1 mission spacecraft embarked on a 110-day voyage to an extraordinary location in space.

Aditya-L1 destination is approximately 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometres) from Earth, offering an uninterrupted view of the sun.

To ensure Aditya-L1 mission spacecraft stays on its precise course, a Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM) was executed on October 6, 2023, lasting 16 seconds.

This TCM is a standard procedure by ISRO for deep space missions to fine-tune the Aditya-L1 spacecraft's orbit.

The correction was necessary after the Trans-Lagrangian Point 1 Insertion (TL1I) manoeuvre was performed on September 19, 2023.

Aditya-L1 mission payloads are 7 in number to be carried out across the 5-year mission to study the sun, representing India's second deep space mission.

The first was the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), which reached Mars in 2014. Aditya means "the sun" in Sanskrit.

The "L1" in Aditya-L1 refers to its orbit location, Earth-sun Lagrange point 1, ensuring continuous solar observations. India's journey to unveil the secrets of our sun continues.

ISRO has a number of projects ongoing apart from Aditya-L1 mission. It includes the Chandrayaan-4 mission, Mangalyaan-2 mission and Shukryaan mission.