Aditya L1 performs 2nd manoeuvre successfully

Bengaluru: Aditya-L1 spacecraft, India's first solar mission, has successfully performed the second earth-bound manoeuvre, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Tuesday.

In a tweet on X (formerly Twitter), ISRO said, “Aditya-L1 Mission: The second Earth-bound manoeuvre (EBN#2) is performed successfully from ISTRAC, Bengaluru. ISTRAC/ISRO's ground stations at Mauritius, Bengaluru and Port Blair tracked the satellite during this operation. The new orbit attained is 282 km x 40225 km." The space agency further added that the next manoeuvre (EBN#3) is scheduled for September 10 at around 02:30 am.

A total of five such orbit manoeuvrings will be performed during the satellite's revolution around the Earth. The new orbit attained by the satellite is 282km x 40225 km. ISRO successfully completed the first orbit manoeuvring exercise on Sunday. An orbital manoeuvre, also called as burn, is a regular protocol during a spaceflight. During this exercise, the orbit of the satellite or spacecraft, is increased by using propulsion systems. This process will include rockets firing and also adjustment of angles. After the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 near the South pole of the moon, the ISRO launched the country's maiden solar mission -- Aditya-L1 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on Saturday.