Mars Orbiter Spacecraft Successfully Inserted Into Mars Orbit
India’s Mars Orbiter Spacecraft successfully entered into an orbit around
planet Mars today morning (September 24, 2014) by firing its 440 Newton
Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) along with eight smaller liquid engines. This
Liquid Engines firing operation which began at 07:17:32 Hrs IST lasted for
1388.67 seconds which changed the velocity of the spacecraft by
1099 metre/sec. With this operation, the spacecraft entered into an
elliptical orbit around Mars. Honourable Prime Minister of India, Mr
Narendra Modi, was present at ISRO’s Telemetry, Tracking and Command
Network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore to witness this important event. Other
dignitaries who were present at ISTRAC include His Excellency Governor of
Karnataka, Mr Vajubhai R Vala, Hon’ble Minister of Railways, Mr D V
Sadananda Gowda, Hon’ble Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Mr Ananth
Kumar, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Karnataka, Mr Siddaramaiah, Hon’ble
Minister of State (Space), Dr Jitendra Singh, Hon’ble Minister of State
for Civil Aviation, Mr G M Siddeswara, Hon’ble Member of Parliament, Mr
Prahlad V Joshi, Hon’ble Minister of Transport, Government of Karnataka,
Mr Ramalinga Reddy and Hon’ble Member of Legislative Assembly, Government
of Karnataka, Mr Muniraju S. Prof U R Rao, former chairman, ISRO and
Prof Yash Pal, former director, Space Applications Centre, were also
present.
The events related to Mars Orbit Insertion progressed satisfactorily and
the spacecraft performance was normal. The Spacecraft is now circling
Mars in an orbit whose nearest point to Mars (periapsis) is at 421.7 km
and farthest point (apoapsis) at 76,993.6 km. The inclination of orbit
with respect to the equatorial plane of Mars is 150 degree, as intended.
In this orbit, the spacecraft takes 72 hours 51 minutes 51 seconds to go
round the Mars once.
Mars Orbiter Spacecraft was launched on-board India’s workhorse launch
vehicle PSLV on November 05, 2013 into a parking orbit around the Earth.
On December 01, 2013, following Trans Mars Injection (TMI) manoeuvre, the
spacecraft escaped from orbiting the earth and followed a path that would
allow it to encounter Mars on September 24, 2014.
With today’s successful Mars Orbit Insertion operation, ISRO has become
the fourth space agency to successfully send a spacecraft to Mars orbit.
In the coming weeks, the spacecraft will be thoroughly tested in the Mars
orbit and the systematic observation of that planet using its five
scientific instruments would begin.
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ST/jk