Aditya L1 Spacecraft to be Placed in a Halo Orbit around Lagrangian Point 1 by Mid January: ISRO Chief
ISRO chief says India's first solar mission Aditya-L1 spacecraft to be placed in a halo orbit around Lagrangian Point 1 (L1) by mid-January
By R. Anil Kumar
Bangalore, October 15. Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) Chief S Somnath on October 15 declared that the Aditya-L1 spacecraft, India’s first solar mission, will reach the Lagrange Point 1 (L1) by mid-January. This mission is expected to reach its destination after a 110-day journey from Earth.
Somanath said, “Currently, it takes almost 110 days to travel from Earth to the L1 point. So by the middle of January, it will reach the L1 point.” He added, “Then at that point, we will do the insertion into the Lagrange Point. That is called the halo orbit. It’s a big orbit.”
The Aditya-L1 mission was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on September 2, following the successful soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 near the South pole of the moon.
The spacecraft carries seven distinct payloads designed to conduct a comprehensive study of the sun. Four of these instruments will observe the sun’s light, while the other three will measure in-situ parameters of the plasma and magnetic fields.
Aditya-L1 will be placed in a halo orbit around Lagrangian Point 1 (L1), situated approximately 1.5 million km away from Earth in the direction of the sun. It is expected that Aditya L1 will cover the distance in four months’ time.
The primary goal of the Aditya-L1 mission is to study the outer atmosphere of the Sun, which is a vast sphere of gas.
ISRO Chief S Somnath also discussed the Gaganyaan mission during his statement. He mentioned that Test Vehicle-D1 mission is scheduled for October 21. He said, “the Gaganyaan program requires testing, demonstrating the crew escape system.” The Gaganyaan project aims to demonstrate human spaceflight capabilities by launching a crew of three members into orbit for a three-day mission and returning them safely to Earth by landing in Indian sea waters, according to the ISRO.
Somnath added that ISRO has plans for several launches in the coming months, including GSLV, SSLV, the Gaganyaan unmanned mission and a PSLV launch before January.
