ADITYA L1 spacecraft, India’s first space-based mission to study the Sun, got a “send-off” from the Earth after orbiting it since its September 2 launch as it underwent a key manoeuvre in the early hours of Tuesday, ISRO said. The Trans-Lagrangian Point 1 Insertion manoeuvre marks the beginning of the spacecraft’s about 110-day trajectory to the destination around the L1 Lagrange point, a balanced gravitational location between the Earth and the Sun. “Off to Sun-Earth L1 point! The Trans-Lagrangian Point 1 Insertion (TL1I) manoeuvre is performed successfully.

 

The spacecraft is now on a trajectory that will take it to the Sun-Earth L1 point. It will be injected into an orbit around L1 through a maneuver after about 110 days,” ISRO said in a post on X. This is the fifth consecutive time the Indian Space Research Organisation has successfully transferred an object on a trajectory toward another celestial body or location in space, the country’s space agency said.