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CHENNAI: Scientists at Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) in Bangalore have raised the orbit of the Mars spacecraft as the first in a series of manoeuvres to ready the orbiter for its 400 million km journey to the red planet.
A team of about 150 scientists at Isro Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (Istrac) started the operation at 1.17am on Thursday. After seven minutes of firing the orbiter's engine, they increased the apogee (the farthest point from earth) from 23,550km to 28,825km. In an elliptical orbit, at its nearest point to Earth(perigee), the spacecraft will be just 252km away.
"The operation was a success," a scientist told TOI on Thursday. "The 440 Newton liquid engine of the spacecraft was fired for 416 second by commanding it from the Spacecraft Control Centre at Peenya, Bangalore," Isro said in a statement later.
Scientists will do four more such orbit-raising exercises in the next nine days. After the spacecraft reaches an apogee of around 1.2 lakh km on November 16, preparations will start for the trans-martian injection on December 1.
India launched its first Mars orbiter mission on Tuesday when PSLV-C25 rocket injected the spacecraft into an Earth orbit.
Isro scientists raise orbit of Mars spacecraft - The Times of India
A team of about 150 scientists at Isro Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (Istrac) started the operation at 1.17am on Thursday. After seven minutes of firing the orbiter's engine, they increased the apogee (the farthest point from earth) from 23,550km to 28,825km. In an elliptical orbit, at its nearest point to Earth(perigee), the spacecraft will be just 252km away.
"The operation was a success," a scientist told TOI on Thursday. "The 440 Newton liquid engine of the spacecraft was fired for 416 second by commanding it from the Spacecraft Control Centre at Peenya, Bangalore," Isro said in a statement later.
Scientists will do four more such orbit-raising exercises in the next nine days. After the spacecraft reaches an apogee of around 1.2 lakh km on November 16, preparations will start for the trans-martian injection on December 1.
India launched its first Mars orbiter mission on Tuesday when PSLV-C25 rocket injected the spacecraft into an Earth orbit.
Isro scientists raise orbit of Mars spacecraft - The Times of India
