India's October 28Mars mission on schedule:Isro

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India's October 28 Mars mission on
schedule: Isro
PTI | Oct 5, 2013, 04.47PM IST
India plans to launch its MOM
spacecraft on October 28, the first
day of the launch window which
remains open till November 19.
BANGALORE: Isro on Saturday said
the country's October 28 Mars
Orbiter Mission (MOM) was on
schedule, dismissing suggestions
that Nasa may not be in a position
to offer it deep space network
support following government
shutdown in the US.
"There is no delay. We are going
ahead with our MOM as scheduled,"
Indian Space Research Organisation
(Isro) spokesperson Deviprasad
Karnik told PTI in Bangalore.
The Bangalore-headquartered space
agency is drawing comfort from the
fact that Nasa has announced that it
would go ahead with its own MAVEN
(Mars Atmosphere and Volatile
Evolution) mission, slated for launch
as early as November 18.
This, in other words, means that
Nasa would have to keep its DSN, an
international network of antennas
that track interplanetary spacecraft
missions, operational.
India plans to launch its MOM
spacecraft on October 28, the first
day of the launch window which
remains open till November 19.
Once launched, MOM would go
around the earth for 20-25 days
before embarking on a nine month
voyage to the red planet.
An Isro official said: "We don't need
Nasa DSN support during initial days
after the launch as small antennas
can track but when it moves further
and further away from earth, we
need such a support".
There has been no communication
from Nasa to Isro saying that it
would not support the Indian
mission, sources said.

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source. timesofindia.com