India’s solar space observatory Aditya-L1 was successfully placed into a halo-orbit near Lagrange point L1 – 1.5 million km from Earth – on Saturday, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said.
“The Aditya-L1 solar observatory was put into halo-orbit at around 16:00 Indian time (12:30 Q) on January 6, 2024,” the organization said in a statement.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the halo-orbit launch “a testament to the relentless dedication of Indian scientists in conducting the most challenging space missions” and said India will continue to push the boundaries of scientific knowledge for the benefit of humanity.
According to the organization, this halo orbit was chosen to minimize the number of maneuvers to correct it and thereby reduce fuel consumption to keep the observatory operational for a period of 5 years.
The Aditya-L1 observatory is equipped with various payloads for scientific research. It will study the Sun’s photosphere and chromosphere, as well as its upper layer, the solar corona, using instruments to detect magnetic fields and electromagnetic particles, spectrometers and coronagraphs.
Scientists expect to obtain new data that will help understand the causes of coronal mass ejections (ejections of matter from the solar corona) and solar flares, as well as study the space weather and magnetic field near the L1 point.
