The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has performed a trajectory correction manoeuvre (TCM) on the Aditya-L1 space craft which is headed to the Lagrangian 1 (L1) point.
The space organisation on Sunday said that the TCM was performed on October 6 and that the spacecraft is healthy and on its way to the L1.
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“The spacecraft is healthy and on its way to Sun-Earth L1. A Trajectory Correction Manoeuvre (TCM), originally provisioned, was performed on October 6, 2023, for about 16 seconds,” the ISRO said.
The space agency added that the TCM was performed to correct the trajectory evaluated after tracking the Trans-Lagrangian Point 1 Insertion (TL1I) manoeuvre performed on September 19, 2023.
“It was needed to correct the trajectory evaluated after tracking the Trans-Lagrangian Point 1 Insertion (TL1I) manoeuvre performed on September 19, 2023. TCM ensures that the spacecraft is on its intended path towards the Halo orbit insertion around L1,” the space agency added.
On September 19, ISRO carried out the TL1I manoeuvre to send it towards L1.
The TL1I manoeuvre marked the beginning of Aditya-L1’s 110-day journey towards the L1 point which lies between the sun-earth line.
L1 is about 1.5 million km from the earth and the distance of L1 from earth is approximately 1% of the earth-sun distance.
India’s first solar observatory mission, Aditya-L1, was launched on September 2 by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
The ISRO said that as Aditya-L1 continues to move ahead, the magnetometer payload will be turned on again within a few days.
The magnetometer payload is developed at Laboratory for Electro Optics Systems, Bengaluru, and is capable of measuring interplanetary magnetic fields at the L1 point.
Aditya-L1 is expected to arrive at the L1 point by January 2024.
