Exactly 100 days from Today ...India will have a make or break situation to create history and be the First Asian country to arrive at Mars .
100 days for India's Mars spacecraft's tryst with red planet - IBNLive
Bangalore: Exactly 100 days from Monday, India's Mars spacecraft is scheduled for a rendezvous with the red planet as it is rapidly coasting towards its target covering almost 70 per cent of its journey. On September 24, a very significant technological milestone of Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) called Mars Orbit Insertion is planned, Bangalore headquartered Indian Space Research Organisation said.
MOM, which is rapidly racing towards its target in its 300-day voyage in deep space, is at a radio distance of 108 million km from earth. A signal takes six minutes to reach Earth from MOM. The spacecraft and its five payloads are in good health, ISRO said in a post on its Mars Orbit Mission Facebook page.
In a crucial milestone, ISRO performed the second Trajectory Correction Manoeuvre (TCM-2) on its Mars Orbiter spacecraft on June 11, at 4.30 pm by firing the spacecraft's 22 Newton thrusters for 16 seconds. Mid-course corrections are done to keep the spacecraft on course.
MOM, which is rapidly racing towards its target in its 300-day voyage in deep space, is at a radio distance of 108 million km from earth.
Another trajectory correction manoeuvre has been planned in August before the space agency performs the Mars Orbit Insertion in September. The ambitious Mars mission was launched from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh onboard the Pollar Satellite Launch Vehicle on November 5 last year with an aim to reach the red planet's atmosphere by September 24 this year.
The Rs 450-crore project is expected to provide the scientific community better opportunities in planetary research. The spacecraft has been configured to carry out observation of physical features of Mars and limited study of Martian atmosphere with five payloads. ISRO has incorporated autonomous features in MOM spacecraft to handle contingencies.
Mars-bound mission updates: Mars Orbiter Mission maneuvers, MAVEN detects Mars | The Planetary Society
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla
2014/06/11 15:59 UTC
Topics: Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), mission status
India's Mars Orbiter Mission has reported via Twitter that their second trajectory correction maneuver, a 16-second rocket burn amounting to only 1.577 meters per second, executed successfully today. According to the information in my last post on Mars Orbiter Mission -- which was in February -- the second burn was supposed to have taken place in April.; I'm not sure what, if anything, it means that it did not happen until June. Perhaps they combined two planned burns because of their small anticipated size? Edit: A commenter has pointed out to me that ISRO announced in April that the course was close enough to the deisred one that they were able to wave off the first planned trajectory correction maneuver. The spacecraft remains on track for a September 24 arrival at Mars.
It's interesting to see the coverage of this burn in India. NDTV makes much of it being a "tricky maneuver." Deep space operations seem so routine, especially little rocket burns like this one; it's easy for observers like me to become complacent, to dismiss events like this one as commonplace. But the NDTV reporter, Pallava Bagla, is right: there's nothing routine about deep-space operations, where the tiniest mistake can lead to the unrecoverable loss of a one-of-a-kind spacecraft. It's even less routine for India, for whom Mars Orbiter Mission is their very first deep-space operation. Every day that this little spacecraft operates is a step farther into space for India than ever before. So they're owed congratulations, and deserve to pat themselves on the back for today's success.
There are never any new pictures associated with deep-space rocket burns. There's nothing nearby to shoot a photo of. But thanks to Glen Nagle at the Canberra Deep Space Network, I do have a nice photo for this post: two of the great southern-hemisphere radio dishes, both listening to the Mars-bound spacecraft as it performs its little course adjustment.
Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex
DSS-43 and DSS-34 dishes tracking Mars Orbiter Mission
The 70-meter DSS-43 and 34-meter DSS-34 dishes of the Canberra Deep Space Network station point toward ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission as the spacecraft prepares to perform a trajectory correction maneuver on June 11, 2014.
100 days for India's Mars spacecraft's tryst with red planet - IBNLive
Bangalore: Exactly 100 days from Monday, India's Mars spacecraft is scheduled for a rendezvous with the red planet as it is rapidly coasting towards its target covering almost 70 per cent of its journey. On September 24, a very significant technological milestone of Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) called Mars Orbit Insertion is planned, Bangalore headquartered Indian Space Research Organisation said.
MOM, which is rapidly racing towards its target in its 300-day voyage in deep space, is at a radio distance of 108 million km from earth. A signal takes six minutes to reach Earth from MOM. The spacecraft and its five payloads are in good health, ISRO said in a post on its Mars Orbit Mission Facebook page.
In a crucial milestone, ISRO performed the second Trajectory Correction Manoeuvre (TCM-2) on its Mars Orbiter spacecraft on June 11, at 4.30 pm by firing the spacecraft's 22 Newton thrusters for 16 seconds. Mid-course corrections are done to keep the spacecraft on course.
MOM, which is rapidly racing towards its target in its 300-day voyage in deep space, is at a radio distance of 108 million km from earth.
Another trajectory correction manoeuvre has been planned in August before the space agency performs the Mars Orbit Insertion in September. The ambitious Mars mission was launched from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh onboard the Pollar Satellite Launch Vehicle on November 5 last year with an aim to reach the red planet's atmosphere by September 24 this year.
The Rs 450-crore project is expected to provide the scientific community better opportunities in planetary research. The spacecraft has been configured to carry out observation of physical features of Mars and limited study of Martian atmosphere with five payloads. ISRO has incorporated autonomous features in MOM spacecraft to handle contingencies.
Mars-bound mission updates: Mars Orbiter Mission maneuvers, MAVEN detects Mars | The Planetary Society
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla
2014/06/11 15:59 UTC
Topics: Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), mission status
India's Mars Orbiter Mission has reported via Twitter that their second trajectory correction maneuver, a 16-second rocket burn amounting to only 1.577 meters per second, executed successfully today. According to the information in my last post on Mars Orbiter Mission -- which was in February -- the second burn was supposed to have taken place in April.; I'm not sure what, if anything, it means that it did not happen until June. Perhaps they combined two planned burns because of their small anticipated size? Edit: A commenter has pointed out to me that ISRO announced in April that the course was close enough to the deisred one that they were able to wave off the first planned trajectory correction maneuver. The spacecraft remains on track for a September 24 arrival at Mars.
It's interesting to see the coverage of this burn in India. NDTV makes much of it being a "tricky maneuver." Deep space operations seem so routine, especially little rocket burns like this one; it's easy for observers like me to become complacent, to dismiss events like this one as commonplace. But the NDTV reporter, Pallava Bagla, is right: there's nothing routine about deep-space operations, where the tiniest mistake can lead to the unrecoverable loss of a one-of-a-kind spacecraft. It's even less routine for India, for whom Mars Orbiter Mission is their very first deep-space operation. Every day that this little spacecraft operates is a step farther into space for India than ever before. So they're owed congratulations, and deserve to pat themselves on the back for today's success.
There are never any new pictures associated with deep-space rocket burns. There's nothing nearby to shoot a photo of. But thanks to Glen Nagle at the Canberra Deep Space Network, I do have a nice photo for this post: two of the great southern-hemisphere radio dishes, both listening to the Mars-bound spacecraft as it performs its little course adjustment.
Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex
DSS-43 and DSS-34 dishes tracking Mars Orbiter Mission
The 70-meter DSS-43 and 34-meter DSS-34 dishes of the Canberra Deep Space Network station point toward ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission as the spacecraft prepares to perform a trajectory correction maneuver on June 11, 2014.
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