LIVE UPDATES: Prime Minister Modi lauds ISRO's Aditya L-1 spacecraft reaching it final orbit

NEW DELHI: After a successful launch of the Moon Mission, and ringing in the New Year with a remarkable achievement of successfully launching the X-Ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is now all set to perform the final manoeuvre to inject the Aditya-L1 spacecraft into its final destination orbit.

As all eyes are set on ISRO, here is all you need to know about the much-anticipated manoeuvre: 

• Union Minister of Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh hailed the success of the Aditya L1 mission. From Moon walk to Sun Dance! What a glorious turn of year for Bharat! Under the visionary leadership of PM @narendramodi, yet another success story scripted by Team #ISRO. #AdityaL1 reaches its final orbit to discover the mysteries of  Sun-Earth connection," Singh wrote on X, formally known as Twitter. 

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded Aditya L-1's success in reaching Lagrange Point 1. “India creates yet another landmark. India’s first solar observatory Aditya-L1 reaches its destination. It is a testament to the relentless dedication of our scientists in realising among the most complex and intricate space missions. I join the nation in applauding this extraordinary feat. We will continue to pursue new frontiers of science for the benefit of humanity,” PM Modi wrote on X. 

• What is Lagrange Point 1? - In celestial mechanics, the Lagrange points are points of equilibrium for small-mass objects under the gravitational influence of two massive orbiting bodies. The L1 point of the Earth-Sun system affords an uninterrupted view of the sun. The point is currently home to NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Satellite SOHO.
• With less than 30 minutes left for Aditya L1 observatory to reach Lagrange point 1, the Director of Space Applications Centre, Nilesh M Desai gave his take on the mission.

• The Aditya-L1 spacecraft is the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun.
• The spacecraft will be placed in a halo orbit around Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system. 
• The total distance that will be covered during the course of this space journey is around 1.5 million kilometers.   
• According to ISRO chief S Somanath, after the insertion of Aditya-L1 to Lagrange point, the satellite will have the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultations/eclipses, in a year [2024] he called "eventful".
• This, in turn, will provide a greater advantage in observing solar activities and its effect on space weather in real time, according to ISRO officials. 

• It is a big thing from our country's point of view as post insertion, the spacecraft will share information about the Sun's environment, and dynamics with the base station for the next five years, Charudatta Pulliwar, Education Officer at the Raman Science Centre & Planetarium told news agency ANI in Maharashtra's Nagpur, adding that “this information will be important not only for India but for the entire world”.

• The Aditya-L1 spacecraft was launched on the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C57) from the second launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota on September 2 last year.
• After a flight duration of 63 minutes and 20 seconds, it was successfully injected into an elliptical orbit of 235x19500 km around the Earth.
• The spacecraft underwent a series of maneuvers thereafter and is now headed toward Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1(L1).
• Aditya-L1 carries seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere and the outermost layers of the Sun (the corona) using electromagnetic and particle and magnetic field detectors.
• According to ISRO officials, the suits of Aditya L1 payloads are expected to provide the "most crucial information" to understand the problem of coronal heating, coronal mass ejection, pre-flare and flare activities and their characteristics, dynamics of space weather, and propagation of particles and fields.

Major Science Objectives of the Aditya-L1 Mission

1. Study of the Solar upper atmospheric (chromosphere and corona) dynamics.
2. Study of chromospheric and coronal heating, physics of the partially ionized plasma, initiation of the coronal mass ejections, and flares.
3. Observe the in-situ particle and plasma environment, providing data for the study of particle dynamics from the Sun.
4. Physics of the solar corona and its heating mechanism.
5. Diagnostics of the coronal and coronal loops plasma: Temperature, velocity and density.
6. Development, dynamics and origin of coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
7. Identify the sequence of processes that occur at multiple layers (chromosphere, base and extended corona) which eventually leads to solar eruptive events.
8. Magnetic field topology and magnetic field measurements in the solar corona.
9. Drivers for space weather (origin, composition and dynamics of solar wind).