The spacecraft is currently on course for its destination, the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1 (L1), as confirmed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in a statement shared on the platform formerly known as Twitter, now known as X.
Having bid farewell to Earth’s orbit approximately 11 days ago, India’s solar mission, Aditya L1, has successfully departed the region where Earth’s gravitational influence extends, as confirmed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Saturday.
The satellite initiated its departure from Earth’s orbit on September 19. Thus far, the spacecraft has covered a distance of approximately 0.92 million kilometers, with an additional journey of nearly 100 days ahead to reach Lagrangian Point 1 (L1) situated between the Sun and the Earth. ISRO noted that this marks the second occasion where they have sent a spacecraft beyond Earth’s sphere of influence, with the first instance being the Mars Orbiter Mission, as reported on X.
The L1 point is situated at a mere 1 percent of the distance between Earth and the Sun. This specific location was chosen for its unique attributes, offering an uninterrupted view of the Sun without any interference from celestial bodies, atmospheric dust, or magnetic fields.
Dr. Sanaka Subramanian, the scientist at the helm of the Aditya L1 mission, emphasized that during the mission’s inception, careful consideration was given to ensure it would yield a distinctive dataset previously unobtained by any other mission to date.