New Delhi: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) today shared an update about India's solar mission Aditya-L1 and said that the spacecraft is on its way to Sun-Earth L1. The space agency also said that Aditya-L1 spacecraft performed a trajectory correction manoeuvre (TCM), for about 16 seconds, on October 6.

ISRO posted on X, "Aditya-L1 Mission: 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 s.

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. As Aditya-L1 continues to move ahead, the magnetometer will be turned on again within a few days."

Aditya L1's Journey So Far

Aditya-L1 was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on September 2. It carried seven different payloads to have a detailed study of the sun, four of which will observe the light from the sun and the other three will measure in-situ parameters of the plasma and magnetic fields.

So far in its journey, the spacecraft has undergone four earth-bound manoeuvres and a Trans-Lagrangian Point 1 Insertion (TL1I) manoeuvres, all successfully. In the process, the spacecraft successfully escaped the sphere of Earth's influence.Aditya-L1 has also commenced collecting scientific data.

The sensors of the STEPS (Supra Thermal and Energetic Particle Spectrometer) instrument have begun measuring supra-thermal and energetic ions and electrons at distances greater than 50,000 km from Earth.