50,000 Km from Earth Aditya-L1 Starts Collecting Scientific Data

New Delhi: The Aditya-L1 spacecraft of ISRO is still a long distance away from its targeted Lagrange Point 1, but it has started gathering science data even before reaching there.

The ISRO activated the Supra Thermal & Energetic Particle Spectrometer (STEPS) instrument of Aditya-L1 and started the data collection process. The STEPS instrument was activated on September 10, at a distance greater than 50,000 km from Earth.

The STEPS instrument is designed to study solar and interplanetary processes. It measures supra-thermal and energetic ions, along with electrons around Earth’s environment.

The data collected by Aditya-L1 will enable scientists to analyse the behavior of particles surrounding the Earth, particularly in the presence of Earth’s magnetic field.

“Each unit of STEPS is operating within normal parameters. A figure displays measurements depicting variations in the energetic particle environment within Earth’s magnetosphere, collected by one of the units. These STEPS measurements will persist during the cruise phase of the Aditya-L1 mission as it progresses toward the Sun-Earth L1 point. They will continue once the spacecraft is positioned in its intended orbit,” ISRO said in a statement.