The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said the first Earth-bound firing to raise Aditya-L1’s orbit is scheduled at around 11:45 am on Sunday, a day after the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle or PSLV-C57.1 rocket carrying the orbiter lifted off successfully from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota.

The successful launch of ISRO’s first solar mission came a week after its historic lunar landing mission — Chandrayaan-3.

Top updates on Aditya-L1 solar mission

1. “Aditya-L1 started generating the power. The solar panels are deployed. The first Earth-Bound firing to raise the orbit is scheduled for September 3 around 11:45 hours,” the ISRO said on Saturday.

2. The Earth-bound manoeuvres will involve the rockets firing and some adjustments to angles, as required. How this will work can perhaps be understood by taking the example of when a person is on a swing — to make the swing go higher, a pressure (by shifting body weight) is applied when in the phase when the swing is coming down towards the ground. In Aditya-L1’s case, once it gains enough velocity, it will slingshot around to its intended path towards L1.

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3. The PSLV has placed the Aditya-L1 satellite precisely into its intended orbit, the agency said.

4. Aditya-L1 will stay Earth-bound orbits for 16 days, during which it will undergo five maneuvres to gain the necessary velocity for its journey, the ISRO said.

5. Subsequently, Aditya-L1 will undergo a trans-Lagrangian1 insertion manoeuvre, marking the beginning of its 110-day trajectory to the destination around the L1 Lagrange Point, it said.

6. Once arrived at the L1 point, another manoeuvre will bind Aditya-L1 to an orbit around L1, a balanced gravitational location between the Earth and the Sun. The satellite will spend its whole mission life orbiting around L1 in an irregularly shaped orbit in a plane roughly perpendicular to the line joining the Earth and the Sun.

7. According to the agency, the Aditya-L1 mission is expected to reach the observation point in four months. It will be placed in a halo orbit around Lagrangian Point 1 (or L1), which is 1.5 million km away from the Earth in the direction of the Sun.

8. It is carrying seven different payloads, which will conduct a detailed study of the Sun. While four of the payload instruments will observe the light from the Sun, the remaining three will measure in-situ parameters of the plasma and magnetic fields.

9. This strategic location will enable Aditya-L1 to continuously observe the Sun without being hindered by eclipses or occultation, allowing scientists to study solar activities and their impact on space weather in real-time.

10. The spacecraft’s data will help identify the sequence of processes that lead to solar eruptive events and contribute to a deeper understanding of space weather drivers.

(With inputs from agencies)