he fourth Earth-bound manoeuvre of the Aditya-L1 mission has been performed successfully in the early hours of September 15. | Photo Credit: Twitter/@isro
The fourth Earth-bound manoeuvre of the Aditya-L1 mission has been performed successfully in the early hours of September 15.
“Aditya-L1 Mission:
The fourth Earth-bound manoeuvre (EBN#4) is performed successfully.
ISRO’s ground stations at Mauritius, Bengaluru, SDSC-SHAR and Port Blair tracked the satellite during this operation, while a transportable terminal currently stationed in the Fiji islands for Aditya-L1 will support post-burn operations.The new orbit attained is 256 km x 121973 km,” ISRO posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Aditya-L1 Mission:
The second Earth-bound maneuvre (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.
ISRO’s launch vehicle PSLV-C57 rocket carrying India’s first solar mission, ‘Aditya-L1’, lifts off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, in Sriharikota, Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023. (PTI Photo)
A day after it launched the Aditya-L1 spacecraft, the country’s first mission to study the Sun, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) carried out the first orbit-raising manoeuvre Sunday.
Stating that the satellite is “healthy and operating nominally”, the ISRO said the first Earth-bound manoeuvre has been “performed successfully” from ISTRAC, Bengaluru.
“The new orbit attained is 245 km x 22459 km” and the next manoeuvre, it said, is scheduled for 0300 Hours IST on September 5.
The Aditya-L1 mission was launched from the Sriharikota spaceport shortly before noon Saturday and placed in an Earth orbit, 235 km x 19,500 km, an hour later.
Over the next few days, the spacecraft will continue to move around the Earth, progressively raising its orbit and gaining momentum, before embarking on its four-month journey to the Lagrange-1 point of the Earth-Sun system.
It is from this point, about 1.5 million km from Earth, that the Aditya-L1 spacecraft will observe the Sun and carry out experiments.
The heavier version of the PSLV rocket that put the satellite in orbit Saturday achieved a milestone of its own. This was the first time that the fourth stage of the PSLV was fired two separate times to insert the spacecraft in the intended orbit.
During the firing of the fourth stage of PSLV and the coasting phase in between, there were two instances – one for nearly 25 minutes and another for just over two minutes – when there were no eyes on the satellite. It was only after a ship-based station in the Bay of Bengal and then the Kourou ground station in French Guiana acquired the data that the flight path could be seen.
Aditya-L1 mission: Aditya-L1 will stay Earth-bound orbits for 16 days, during which it will undergo five manoeuvres to gain necessary velocity for its journey.
A combo of photos shows the launch of India’s first solar mission ‘Aditya-L1’ at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on Saturday, (PTI)
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said the first Earth-bound firing to raise Aditya-L1’s orbit is scheduled at around 11:45 am on Sunday, a day after the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle or PSLV-C57.1 rocket carrying the orbiter lifted off successfully from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota.
The successful launch of ISRO’s first solar mission came a week after its historic lunar landing mission — Chandrayaan-3.
Top updates on Aditya-L1 solar mission
1. “Aditya-L1 started generating the power. The solar panels are deployed. The first Earth-Bound firing to raise the orbit is scheduled for September 3 around 11:45 hours,” the ISRO said on Saturday.
PSLV-C57/Aditya-L1 Mission:
The launch of Aditya-L1 by PSLV-C57 is accomplished successfully.
The vehicle has placed the satellite precisely into its intended orbit.
India’s first solar observatory has begun its journey to the destination of Sun-Earth L1 point.
2. The Earth-bound manoeuvres will involve the rockets firing and some adjustments to angles, as required. How this will work can perhaps be understood by taking the example of when a person is on a swing — to make the swing go higher, a pressure (by shifting body weight) is applied when in the phase when the swing is coming down towards the ground. In Aditya-L1’s case, once it gains enough velocity, it will slingshot around to its intended path towards L1.
3. The PSLV has placed the Aditya-L1 satellite precisely into its intended orbit, the agency said.
4. Aditya-L1 will stay Earth-bound orbits for 16 days, during which it will undergo five maneuvres to gain the necessary velocity for its journey, the ISRO said.
5. Subsequently, Aditya-L1 will undergo a trans-Lagrangian1 insertion manoeuvre, marking the beginning of its 110-day trajectory to the destination around the L1 Lagrange Point, it said.
6. Once arrived at the L1 point, another manoeuvre will bind Aditya-L1 to an orbit around L1, a balanced gravitational location between the Earth and the Sun. The satellite will spend its whole mission life orbiting around L1 in an irregularly shaped orbit in a plane roughly perpendicular to the line joining the Earth and the Sun.
7. According to the agency, the Aditya-L1 mission is expected to reach the observation point in four months. It will be placed in a halo orbit around Lagrangian Point 1 (or L1), which is 1.5 million km away from the Earth in the direction of the Sun.
Aditya-L1 mission payloads to help uderstand the problem of coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, pre-flare and flare activities, the dynamics of space weather, and the propagation of particles and fields
Aditya L1 onboard the PSLV-C57 the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on September 1, 2023 on the eve of its launch. Photo: X/@ISRO via PTI
India’s first solar observatory mission, named Aditya-L1, will be launched onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 11.50 am on Saturday.
On Friday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) commenced the 23-hour 40-minute countdown for the launch of the Aditya-L1 mission.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi With South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. (X/@narendramodi)
Chandrayaan-3 is the reason why South African President Cyril Ramaphosa wanted to sit next to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the BRICS Summit in that country last week.
The Moon mission, Chandrayaan-3, which cost Rs 75 million, has received praise from space agencies and governments worldwide.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar mentioned that it also garnered positive reactions from BRICS leaders during events in Johannesburg.
After the successful landing, the South African President, who considered it a triumph for his country as well, expressed his desire to be seated next to Prime Minister Modi so that Chandrayaan’s positive energy could influence him.
On 23 August, when the landing took place, the Prime Minister left the session to join ISRO via a video link.
By the second day, even within the BRICS summit, conversations had shifted to focus on Chandrayaan, as stated by Jaishankar.
Jaishankar narrated “I was in a room (attending a BRICS event as Vikram was landing)… with a big screen in the corner. It was difficult to talk without getting distracted,” the minister said, “At some stage President Ramaphosa said, Foreign Minister, you are looking like Chandrayaan is up there (pointing to the screen).”
He further said “I think, by then, it had seeped into peoples’ imagination and, that evening, I must tell you, we were at a BRICS Plus event – so you had about 50 other countries’ prime ministers and presidents – and the speech which President Ramaphosa gave on Chandrayaan was like a collective feeling…”
The EAM added “In fact, he said, ‘I’m going to sit next to PM Modi and I hope some of it rubs off on me…”
The remarks of the South African President reflect the respect and admiration for PM Modi among his peers.
During the BRICS Summit, Prime Minister Modi expressed his delight at the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3, stating that it is a remarkable achievement for mankind as a whole.
India scripted history on Wednesday becoming the only country to soft-land on the South Pole of Moon. India is also the fourth country – after US, Russia and China – to achieve a successful moon landing. The spacecraft was launched on July 14 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre situated in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew to Bengaluru from Greece to meet scientists to meet with the team of ISRO scientists behind the successful Chandrayaan-3 Moon mission. As soon as he arrived at the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network Mission Control Complex, PM Modi was welcomed by ISRO chief S Somanath, who he greeted with a pat on the back followed by a bear hug.
Earlier, while addressing his supporters at the HAL airport, PM Modi had said that he could not contain his excitement about the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. “I could not stop myself as I was not in the country, but I decided to visit Bengaluru first and meet our scientists right after visiting India,” PM Modi said, reasoning out his early arrival to the city.
“I requested Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister and governor not to come this early in the morning as I didn’t want to trouble them,” PM Modi said.
#WATCH | Bengaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets ISRO chief S Somanath and congratulates him for the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon pic.twitter.com/J8cRsftwv2
PM Modi arrived in Bengaluru early Saturday morning after concluding his visit to South Africa and Greece.
PM Narendra Modi waves the Indian flag while watching the telecast of Chandrayaan-3’s successful soft landing on the Moon’s surface. Credit: PTI File Photo
The spot where Chandrayaan-3 landed on the Moon will be known as ‘Shivshakti’, announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday in an emotional address to ISRO scientists.
He further announced that the spot on the lunar surface where the Chandrayaan-2 left its footprints will be known as ‘Tiranga’. “This will be an inspiration for every effort made by India. it will remind us any failure is not final…,” he added.
ISRO Chairman S Somanath acknowledges the gathering before addressing the media after the successful soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the surface of the moon. (PTI)
When the Indian space scientists initiated the Automated Landing Sequence for Chandrayaan-3 on Wednesday afternoon, they were confident that no matter what, they will successfully land India’s first spacecraft on the Moon.
Over the next one hour, they waited patiently till the clock struck 5.45pm. And then began the final countdown for the much-awaited powered descent. The spacecraft propelled towards the South Pole of the Moon along the path which was already planned for it.
MAJESTIC START: FIRST 11.5 MINUTES
It began with the pivotal ‘Rough Braking Phase’ — moving horizontally across the lunar surface, covering a distance of about 713 km in just 11.5 minutes. All its four throttle-able engines were fired, reducing the spacecraft speed from 1680 m/s to about 358 m/s. From nearly 30 km from the lunar surface, it quickly came down to 7.4 km precisely as planned, as the Lander successfully glided through its most crucial phase.
This was what the mission team was most worried about — the Lander had to switch from its horizontal to vertical movement within a few minutes. This was the point where the ISRO team had faltered last time, and they anticipated that it would not be easy this time either.
The tension in the control room was evident as scientists fidgeted and whispered. But they were certain that the spacecraft would make it. The plethora of simulations that they carried out over the last four years, factoring in all kinds of possible situations, ensured that it did. And the Lander had a majestic start as it glided through the moon’s weak atmosphere, completing 80 per cent of the journey successfully by the time it struck 5.56pm.
The toughest part of the powered descent was now over as scientists at ISRO’s Mission Operation Complex (MOX) clapped in appreciation and broke into smiles. ISRO chief S Somanath, who had been confident about the mission’s success right from the start, was now nodding quietly with eyes fixed on the screen.
The Lander oriented itself to a favourable altitude as the high-resolution camera aboard captured stunning images of the lunar surface which it was about to conquer and compared it with the on-board imagery looking for the precise landing point. The sensors functioned as planned as Chandrayaan-3 began calculating the altitude and velocity over the next three seconds to make calibrations for the final descent.
Indians are waiting with bated breath for the historic lunar landing of Chandrayaan-3 on Wednesday evening. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Tuesday said in an update that the Chandrayaan-3 mission is on schedule.
According to ISRO, India’s pursuit of space exploration will reach a remarkable milestone if the Chandrayaan-3 mission is able to achieve a soft landing on the surface of the Moon. The space organization also said that this achievement will mark a significant step forward for India in the fields of Science, Engineering, Technology, and Industry and will symbolise our nation’s progress in space exploration.
CHANDRAYAAN 3 LANDING: WHEN TO WATCH?
ISRO will broadcast the event live on August 23, from 5.27 pm IST on its official website. Chandrayaan-3 is expected to land on the moon around 6:04 pm.
The organization took to X, formerly known as Twitter to make the announcement for the same.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
🇮🇳Chandrayaan-3 is set to land on the moon 🌖on August 23, 2023, around 18:04 Hrs. IST.
People can watch the moon landing of Chandrayaan 3 live on ISRO’s YouTube channel, its Facebook page, and the DD National TV channel. One can also catch the latest updates on the lunar landing on CNN-News18 and other major TV news platforms in the country.
The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is the third lunar exploration mission planned by ISRO following the failed Chandrayaan-2 mission. The mission serves as a continuation of the Chandrayaan-2 mission in 2019 and aims to showcase the complete capability of safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.
Russia’s first moon mission in 47 years failed when its Luna-25 space craft spun out of control and crashed into the moon after a problem preparing for pre-landing orbit, underscoring the post-Soviet decline of a once mighty space programme.
Russia’s state space corporation, Roskosmos, said it had lost contact with the craft at 11:57 GMT on Saturday after a problem as the craft was shunted into pre-landing orbit. A soft landing had been planned for Monday.
“The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon,” Roskosmos said in a statement.
It said a special inter-departmental commission had been formed to investigate the reasons behind the loss of the Luna-25 craft, whose mission had raised hopes in Moscow that Russia was returning to the big power moon race.
The failure underscored the decline of Russia’s space power since the glory days of Cold War competition when Moscow was the first to launch a satellite to orbit the Earth – Sputnik 1, in 1957 – and Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to travel into space in 1961.
It also comes as Russia’s $2 trillion economy faces its biggest external challenge for decades: the pressure of both Western sanctions and fighting the biggest land war in Europe since World War Two.
Though moon missions are fiendishly difficult, and many U.S. and Soviet attempts have failed, Russia had not attempted a moon mission since Luna-24 in 1976, when Communist leader Leonid Brezhnev ruled the Kremlin.
Russian state television put news of the loss of Luna-25 at number 8 in its line up at noon and gave it just 26 seconds of coverage, after a news about fires on Tenerife and a 4 minute item about a professional holiday for Russian pilots and crews.
FAILED MOONSHOT
Russia has been racing against India, whose Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is scheduled to land on the moon’s south pole this week, and more broadly against China and the United States which both have advanced lunar ambitions.
FILE PHOTO: A picture taken from the camera of the lunar landing spacecraft Luna-25 shows the Zeeman crater located on the far side of the moon, August 17, 2023. Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT./File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
As news of the Luna-25 failure broke, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) posted on X, formerly Twitter, that Chandrayaan-3 was set to land on Aug. 23.
Russian officials had hoped that the Luna-25 mission would show Russia can compete with the superpowers in space despite its post-Soviet decline and the vast cost of the Ukraine war.
“The flight control system was a vulnerable area, which had to go through many fixes,” said Anatoly Zak, the creator and publisher of www.RussianSpaceWeb.com which tracks Russian space programmes.
Zak said Russia had also gone for the much more ambitious moon landing before undertaking a simpler orbital mission – the usual practice for the Soviet Union, the United States, China and India.
While Luna-25 went beyond the earth’s orbit – unlike the failed 2011 Fobos-Grunt mission to one of the moons of Mars – the crash could impact Russia’s moon programme, which envisages several more missions over coming years including a possible joint effort with China.
Russia is racing against India to make an ambitious landing on the moon’s south pole, with its rival having launched its own lunar lander Chandrayaan-3 last month. Space agencies like NASA have detected frozen water in the area’s craters before, but no country has ever ventured there.
Russia launches Moon mission
Russia has reported an “abnormal situation” at its moon-bound spacecraft which launched earlier this month.
Luna-25 is an unmanned robot lander and the country’s first mission to the lunar surface in almost 50 years.
It’s targeting a historic touchdown at the moon’s south pole on Monday, but appears to have run into unspecified trouble while preparing for a pre-landing orbit.
Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, said its specialists were analysing the situation.
No further details have been provided.
It comes a week after the craft’s data-collecting equipment was switched on following its launch from Russia’s Vostochny cosmodrome in the country’s far eastern Amur region.
The size of a small car, it blasted off on a Soyuz rocket and entered the moon’s orbit on Wednesday. It’s since sent back photos of the Zeeman crater, the third deepest in the lunar surface’s southern hemisphere.
Russia hopes when Luna-25 lands, it will spend a year collecting samples of rock and dust to get a sense of whether the moon could support a permanent base for humans.
This snap taken by Luna-25 shows the Zeeman crater on the far side of the moon
Historic trip to find water ice
The region where it’s aiming to land is known for its rough terrain, but is also thought to hold pockets of water ice.
If it does, it could be used for fuel, oxygen, and drinking water, potentially allowing for longer human trips.
Russia is racing against India to make the ambitious landing, with its rival having launched its own lunar lander Chandrayaan-3 last month.
Roscosmos has been keen to prove itself as a “space superpower” since the invasion of Ukraine saw its experts lose access to Western technology.
The crucial manoeuvre took place in the early hours of Tuesday to propel the spacecraft towards the Moon using a slingshot effect.
Chandrayaan-3 was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on Friday, on board the LVM-3 rocket. (ISRO) (HT_PRINT)
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Tuesday announced that Chandrayaan-3 has successfully completed its orbits around the Earth and is currently on its way towards the Moon.
“A successful perigee-firing performed at ISTRAC (ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network). ISRO has injected the spacecraft into the translunar orbit,” it said.
The crucial manoeuvre took place in the early hours of Tuesday to propel the spacecraft towards the Moon using a slingshot effect.
“Chandrayaan-3 completes its orbits around the Earth and heads towards the moon,” the national space agency said, adding, “Next stop: the moon. As it arrives at the moon, the Lunar-Orbit Insertion is planned for August 5, 2023,” ISRO said.
According to an ISRO official speaking to PTI, after the trans-lunar injection, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully departed from Earth’s orbit and is now on a trajectory headed towards the Moon. The ISRO had previously announced plans to attempt a soft landing on the lunar surface on August 23.
Following the launch of the Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon on July 14, the spacecraft’s orbit was systematically raised in five stages.
Chandrayaan-3 has completed its orbits around the earth and is heading towards the moon, the national space agency headquartered said.
The Indian Space Research Organisation on Tuesday injected the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft into the translunar orbit.
“Chandrayaan-3 has completed its orbits around the earth and is heading towards the moon,” the national space agency headquartered here said.
“A successful perigee-firing performed at ISTRAC (ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network). ISRO has injected the spacecraft into the translunar orbit,” it said.
“Next stop: the moon. As it arrives at the moon, the Lunar-Orbit Insertion (LOI) is planned for August 5, 2023,” it added.
An ISRO official told PTI that following Tuesday’s trans-lunar injection (TLI), the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft escaped from orbiting the earth and is now following a path that would take it to the vicinity of the Moon.
In other words, the spacecraft began its journey towards the Moon on Tuesday, after leaving the Earth’s orbit following the TLI maneuver, which placed it on ‘lunar transfer trajectory’.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had said it would attempt soft landing of the lander on the lunar surface on August 23.
