Aditya L1 : Indian Solar Mission Aditya L1, successfully completed its fourth maneuver on Earth on Thursday, taking another step toward its desired speed toward its destination. 

India’s first solar probe Aditya L1 successfully completed its fourth maneuver to Earth early  Thursday, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said. 

“The fourth ground check (EBN#4) was successfully completed. Isro’s ground stations at Mauritius, Bengaluru, SDSC-SHAR and Port Blair monitored the satellite during this mission, while the manned terminal Aditya-L1, currently located in the Fiji., supports the afterburner operations,” the space agency wrote to X.  

The new orbit achieved is 256 km x 121,973 km. Isro said that the next mission, Trans-Lagrangian Point 1 Insertion (TL1I), which marks the departure from  Earth, will take place around 2 am on September 19. 

The solar mission, which began its journey on September 2, will undergo a total of five orbital lift operations to reach the necessary speed to reach  the goal Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1 (L1).  The first, second, and third ground maneuvers were successfully completed on September 3, 5, and 10, respectively. 

Aditya-L1 is India’s first space mission  to study the Sun from a halo orbit around the first Sun-Earth Lagrangian point (L1), which is approximately 1.5 million kilometres from Earth.  

The spacecraft orbits about 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth and maintains a halo orbit around the L1 Lagrange point  between the Earth and the Sun.  The L1 Lagrange point represents the gravitationally stable position where the gravitational forces of the Sun and Earth balance each other. This positioning allows Aditya L1 to remain in a fixed position relative to the sun, facilitating continuous observation of the sun’s atmosphere without obscuration or dimming. 

The mission is expected to provide valuable insights into the physics of the solar atmosphere, solar magnetic storms and their effects on  Earth.