Aditya L1 successfully undergoes third earth-bound manoeuvre: ISRO

India's Aditya-L1 solar mission has achieved a significant milestone by successfully completing its third Earth-bound maneuver, advancing its mission to unravel the mysteries of the Sun.

Aditya L1 spacecraft, India’s first space-based mission to study the Sun, successfully underwent its third earth-bound manoeuvre in the early hours of Sunday, ISRO said.

The space agency’s Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) carried out the operation.

“The third Earth-bound manoeuvre (EBN#3) is performed successfully from ISTRAC, Bengaluru. ISRO’s ground stations at Mauritius, Bengaluru, SDSC-SHAR and Port Blair tracked the satellite during this operation,” the Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO) said in a post on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter).

Aditya-L1 Mission:
The third Earth-bound maneuvre (EBN#3) is performed successfully from ISTRAC, Bengaluru.

ISRO's ground stations at Mauritius, Bengaluru, SDSC-SHAR and Port Blair tracked the satellite during this operation.

The new orbit attained is 296 km x 71767 km.… pic.twitter.com/r9a8xwQ4My

— ISRO (@isro) September 9, 2023

“The new orbit attained is 296 km x 71767  km.  The next maneuvre (EBN#4) is scheduled for September 15, 2023, around 02:00 Hrs. IST, ” ISRO added.

Aditya-L1, the inaugural Indian space-based observatory, will observe the Sun from a halo orbit around the first Sun-Earth Lagrangian point (L1), approximately 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. The first and second Earth-bound maneuvers were successfully executed on September 3 and 5, respectively. One additional Earth-bound orbital maneuver remains before the spacecraft is positioned in the transfer orbit toward Lagrange point L1.