Aditya-L1 success: India is fourth country to place a spacecraft in L1 Halo orbit

www.mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, Jan 6, 2023: India has achieved another milestone in space exploration! On Saturday, ISRO’s solar mission, ’Aditya L1,’ has arrived at its final destination after a journey of 126 days, covering a distance of 3.7 million kilometers.

India now becomes the fourth country to place a spacecraft in an orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrangian point, termed L1, after the US, Europe and China.

Aditya-L1 launched on Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C57) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota, Sept. 2 last year. The launch came days after India became the fourth country to land on the moon with the robotic Chandrayaan-3 lander.

Aditya-L1 performed four Earth-bound orbital maneuvers before entering a transfer orbit for L1. Its arrival came 126 days later. The 1,480-kilogram spacecraft is equipped with seven scientific instruments developed indigenously for solar research.

Positioned approximately 1% of the Sun-Earth distance within the orbit of our planet, its payload includes an ultraviolet imaging telescope, soft and hard X-ray spectrometers, and a coronagraph for solar observations. Additionally, it carries a pair of particle analyzers and a magnetometer for direct in-situ measurements.

For comparison, the James Webb Space Telescope operates at Sun-Earth L-2 Lagrange point, another gravitationally stable point, 1.5 million kilometers from the Earth but in the direction opposite to the Sun.