Aditya-L1: India's first solar observatory safely arrives at its destination in space

India's solar observatory spacecraft, Aditya-L1, has successfully entered Halo orbit which is located roughly 1.5 million km from Earth around the Sun-Earth Lagrangian Point 1 (L1), the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced on Saturday. This marks a historic moment for India's space exploration endeavours, with the spacecraft being the nation's first dedicated solar observatory.

Halo-Orbit has several advantages as compared to a Low Earth Orbit (LEO), with the former providing a smooth Sun-spacecraft velocity change throughout the orbit, which is appropriate for helioseismology. Halo Orbit is ideal for the "in situ" sampling of the solar wind and particles and also allows unobstructed, continuous observation of the Sun and view of Earth.

According to ISRO, the halo orbit insertion will ensure a mission lifetime of 5 years, reducing station-keeping manoeuvres and thus fuel consumption and ensuring a continuous, unobstructed view of the sun.

"The insertion of Aditya-L1 into this Halo orbit presents a critical mission phase, which demanded precise navigation and control. A successful insertion further involved constant monitoring along with the adjustment of the spacecraft's speed and position by using onboard thrusters. The success of this insertion not only signifies ISRO's capabilities in such complex orbital manoeuvres, but it but gives confidence to handle future interplanetary missions," ISRO said in a statement.

Greetings from Aditya-L1!I've safely arrived at Lagrange Point L1, 1.5 million km from my home planet. 🌍Excited to be far away, yet intimately connected to unravel the solar mysteries #ISRO pic.twitter.com/BCudJgTmMN

— ISRO ADITYA-L1 (@ISRO_ADITYAL1) January 6, 2024

Aditya-L1 spacecraft was launched by ISRO's PLSV-C57 launch vehicle on September 2, 2023, from SDSC SHAR, into an elliptical parking orbit (EPO). The mission's key objective is to observe and understand the chromospheric and coronal dynamics of the Sun without any interruption.