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).
“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.