India's premier space agency, ISRO, on 5 November 2013 successfully launched its
historic mission to Mars from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota,
about 100 from Chennai. It was India’s first mission to
the red planet. The mission follows India’s successful 2008-2009
Chandrayaan-1 moon probe, which discovered water molecules
in the lunar soil. The total cost of the Mars mission is 73
million US dollars.
The main features of the Mars mission are as
following:
·
The main objective of the mission is
to develop the technologies required for design, planning, management and
operations of an interplanetary mission.
·
The main objective of the mission is
to explore Mars surface features, morphology, mineralogy and search for methane
in the Martian atmosphere using indigenous scientific instruments.
·
The satellite carries instruments
such as Lyman Alpha Photometer, a methane sensor, a composition analyser, a
camera and an imaging spectrometer for studying the atmosphere, particle
environment and surface imaging.
·
The satellite is scheduled to reach
the Mars orbit in September 2014 and is designed to circle
the Red Planet in an elliptical orbit of 366 km X 80000 km.
Mission Objectives
one of the main objectives of the first Indian
mission to Mars is to develop the technologies required for design, planning,
management and operations of an interplanetary mission.
A. Technological Objectives:
·
Design and realisation of a Mars
orbiter with a capability to survive and perform Earth bound manoeuvres, cruise
phase of 300 days, Mars orbit insertion / capture, and
on-orbit phase around Mars.
·
Deep space communication,
navigation, mission planning and management.
·
Incorporate autonomous features to
handle contingency situations.
B. Scientific Objectives:
Exploration of Mars surface features,
morphology, mineralogy and Martian atmosphere by indigenous scientific
instruments.
Payloads
1.
Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP)
2.
Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM)
3.
Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA)
4.
Mars Colour Camera (MCC)
5.
Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometre (TIS)
About Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM)
Primary objectives of the Mars mission are to
demonstrate India’s technological capability to send a satellite to orbit
around Mars and conduct meaningful experiments such as looking for signs of
life, take pictures of the red planet and study Martian environment.
The main aim of MOM to be to seek whether there
is methane, considered a precursor chemical for life, on the red planet.
Methane sensor, one of the five payloads (scientific instruments) on board the
spacecraft, would look to detect the presence of methane.
The XL version of the Indian Space Research
Organisation's workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) would be used
for launching of the mission.
The satellite will carry compact science
experiment instruments, totalling a mass of 15 kg. There
will be five instruments to study Martian surface, atmosphere and mineralogy.
After leaving the earth’s orbit, the spacecraft
will cruise in deep space for about ten months using its own propulsion system
and will reach Martian transfer trajectory in September 2014.
The spacecraft subsequently is planned to enter
into a 372 km by 80000 km elliptical
orbit around Mars.
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