ADITYA L-1 (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 – Sci & Tech)

Context: India's first solar mission, Aditya-L1, completed its fourth Earth-bound manoeuvre, and the Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) announced the upcoming manoeuvre which marks its departure from Earth orbit.

Aditya L1

• About: It represents India's inaugural space mission dedicated to the study of the Sun.
• Launched by: PSLV-XL launch vehicle.
• The spacecraft is destined to be positioned in a halo orbit encircling Lagrange point 1 (L1) within the Sun-Earth system, located approximately 1.5 million kms away from Earth.
• This continuous observation capability will significantly enhance the capacity to
• monitor solar activities and their immediate impact on space weather in real time.
• Payloads: It carries a total of seven payloads, which are designed to scrutinize the photosphere, chromosphere, and the outermost solar layers (the corona) using various detectors for electromagnetic waves, particles, and magnetic fields.
• Objective: To unravel the fundamental drivers of space weather, which encompass the origin, composition, and dynamics of the solar wind.

Lagrangian Points

• About: It is known as Lagrange points or libration points.
• Founded by: mathematician Joseph Louis Lagrange.
• Located: about 1.5 million kms inside Earth's orbit, between the Sun and the Earth.
• These are particular points in space where the gravitational forces between two
• massive objects, like a planet and its moon or a planet and the Sun, create areas of heightened gravitational stability.

Earth-Bound Manoeuvres

• About: It involves the firing of rockets and some adjustments to angles, as required.
• How it works: Analogous to a person on a swing, Aditya-L1 will use a similar principle.

oJust as someone applies pressure when the swing is descending to make it go higher, Aditya-L1 will gain velocity.

oOnce it reaches sufficient speed, it will slingshot around to align with its intended trajectory toward L1.