Isro has reached a new milestone by moving Aditya-L1, India's first solar space observatory, from the S-band telemetry and command system used for communication with its space modules to a high-speed X-band frequency at 11:40 a.m. on Sunday.
Isro had solely used X-band up until this point for payload data downloads.
X band operates at 8–8.5GHz compared to S-band's 2-2.5GHz frequency. This complies with global standards for missions outside the influence of Earth.
The main benefit of using the X-band is that it makes it possible to communicate with faraway satellites more clearly. The distance in this case of Aditya-L1 is 1.5 million kilometres.
After Aditya-L1 completed the first Earth-bound manoeuvre, Isro said, "The satellite is healthy and operating nominally. The new orbit attained is 245km x 22,459km and the second Earth-bound manoeuvre is scheduled for 3 a.m. on September 5."
Several tracking stations run by the Isro Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (Istrac), with headquarters in Bengaluru, are responsible for managing Aditya's operations. A temporary station is part of the setup, located on the Fiji Islands.
An 18m antenna near Byalalu, about 30 kilometres from Bengaluru, serves as the primary operational antenna. The antenna was installed with funds from the Aditya-L1 mission, which was intended to contain X-band telemetry, and it was commissioned in 2021.
"We have used this even with Chandrayaan-3. The antenna at Byalalu, developed by ECIL (Electronics Corporation of India Limited) with some key systems coming from BARC (Bhabha Atomic Research Centre), can operate in both S and X bands," S Somanath, Isro chairman, told TOI.
It has features for automatic tracking in both bands and can be controlled remotely from the network control centre.
Isro has at least two other smaller antennas that can function in the S and X bands in addition to the Byalalu antenna. NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), a space PSU, would also have the potential to commercialise the new infrastructure.
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