India make History, Mars Orbiter Spacecraft Successfully placed in Mars Transfer

[KAL-EL]

Congrats to the nation of India!! Your friends in the United States of America are very happy for you on this great achievement.

 

[Jade]

Congratulations due to India: Mars Orbiter Mission is on the way to Mars!

Today I am delighted to welcome India into the ranks of interplanetary travelers. Today their Mars Orbiter Mission has successfully propelled itself onto an interplanetary trajectory, departing Earth forever and setting sail for Mars. No matter what happens to the spacecraft between now and next September, India has achieved interplanetary travel. Congratulations to India, to the Indian Space Research Organisation, to the mission's scientists and engineers, and to the people of India.

As reported on ISRO's website, the rocket burned for 1328.89 seconds to impart an incremental velocity of 647.96 m/sec. Here's a little animation I put together from photos posted to the mission's Facebook page:


Mars Orbiter Mission departs Earth
What's next for the mission? According to a Press Trust of India article, the plan includes four trajectory correction maneuvers, the first happening on December 11. The rest are in April 2014, August 2014, and then 10 days before orbit insertion on September 14.

There are a lot of things that are challenging about space exploration. But some things are more hazardous than others. For this mission, the three most hazardous events were always the launch; the injection onto an interplanetary trajectory; and arrival at Mars. All three of these events have to go absolutely perfectly -- any problem would almost certainly mean failure of the mission. Mars Orbiter Mission has now successfully weathered two of the three biggest challenges. The last comes in September 2014, when the spacecraft will meet Mars.

When Mars Orbiter Mission arrives at Mars, the planet and the spacecraft will be on different heliocentric orbits. Mars Orbiter Mission must fire its rocket in the right direction, for long enough, to change its heliocentric orbit enough that Mars' gravity will take control of the spacecraft's path. There is only one chance to get that right. We can look at Japan for two tragic cases when this step did not go well. Japan's Nozomi, which was intended to be a Mars orbiter, suffered a series of setbacks, beginning with a short trans-Mars injection burn, and ending with frozen fuel lines. Nozomi reached Mars but was unable to fire its rocket to enter orbit. Unable to be grabbed by Mars, it continued on a heliocentric orbit and, too damaged to produce a useful science mission, it was shut down. Akatsuki, which was intended to enter orbit at Venus, suffered a catastrophic failure of its rocket motor partway through the burn. Akatsuki shifted its orbit somewhat, but not enough to be able to enter orbit at Venus. There is still a small amount of hope that Akatsuki may be able to achieve Venus orbit once it comes back around the Sun, in 2015 or 2016, but even if it does, it will not be the same mission as intended because it will not be the right orbit.

Of course there are other kinds of failures, too, like the one that happened to NASA's Mars Observer only two days before it was to arrive at Mars. India is not out of the woods yet; the next step, entering Mars orbit, is a tough one, and it comes after 300 days of deep-space operations. But so far, so good. And so far, it is more than India -- or, indeed, most nations -- has ever achieved before.

Congratulations due to India: Mars Orbiter Mission is on the way to Mars! | The Planetary Society

 

[Ayush]

I feel proud.

 

[KRAIT]

Congrats to the nation of India!! Your friends in the United States of America are very happy for you on this great achievement.

Thanks. Here it is buddy, MAVEN and MOM together.

But MAVEN will arrive earlier.

 

[jaunty]

Excellent news! Hats off to ISRO, their professionalism is something other organizations in India can learn from.

 

[The_Sidewinder]

Congratulations to every1 involved with the mission.

 

[trident2010]

Indian probe begins journey to Mars

The spacecraft is due to reach Mars on 24 September next year

India's mission to Mars has embarked on its 300-day journey to the Red Planet.

Early on Sunday the spacecraft fired its main engine for more than 20 minutes, giving it the correct velocity to leave Earth's orbit.

It will now cruise for 680m km (422m miles), setting up an encounter with its target on 24 September 2014.

The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also known as Mangalyaan, is designed to demonstrate the technological capability to reach Mars orbit.

But the $72m (£45m) probe will also carry out experiments, including a search for methane gas in the planet's atmosphere.

MOM tweeted: "Earth orbiting phase of the #Mangalyaan ended and now is on a course to encounter Mars after a journey of about 10 months around the Sun."

Since launch on 5 November, the craft has progressively raised its orbit around Earth with a series of engine burns.

The manoeuvres were all successful apart from the fourth, carried out on 11 November, during which a problem with the liquid fuel thruster caused the MOM to fall short of the mark.

But the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has made plans for the eventuality that changes need to be made to the 1,350kg spacecraft's course.

"We have planned right now four mid-course corrections; first one will be around December 11 - plus or minus a couple of days depending on the deviation," the NDTV news channel reported V Koteswara Rao, Isro's scientific secretary, as saying.

On Earth, the majority of atmospheric methane (CH4) is produced by living organisms. The gas has previously been detected in Mars's atmosphere by orbiting spacecraft and by telescopes on Earth.

But Nasa's rover Curiosity recently failed to find the gas in its atmospheric measurements.

If the MOM can detect methane, one possible source could be Martian microbes, perhaps living deep beneath the surface. But CH4 can also be produced by geological processes, including volcanism.

India's PSLV rocket - the second choice for the mission after a beefier launcher failed - was not powerful enough to send the MOM on a direct flight to Mars.

So engineers opted for a method of travel called a Hohmann Transfer Orbit to propel the spacecraft from Earth to Mars with the least amount of fuel possible.


BBC News - Indian probe begins journey to Mars

 

[faithfulguy]

Congrats to India. Its a successful journey indeed. Best of wishes for India to place this probe into Mars orbit next September.

I feel proud.

You should be. I'm certain that @Jaytle also feels proud for this Indian achievement. Indians all over the world should be proud of what their country had accomplished so far and will achieve next September.

 

[Dash]

Gods speed MOM!! and MAVEN too Jai Hind.

 

[Chronos]

congrats !

so the most difficult phase is over ?

The hard part is the long journey and getting captured by Mars

Congrats to India. Its a successful journey indeed. Best of wishes for India to place this probe into Mars orbit next September.



You should be. I'm certain that @Jaytle also feels proud for this Indian achievement. Indians all over the world should be proud of what their country had accomplished so far and will achieve next September.

Chances are grim. Very grim indeed

Mighty achievement India, well done, a well deserved well done!

Thank you my friend.

Science diplomacy in the future perhaps?

 

[Bang Galore]

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) scientists and engineers monitor the movements of India's Mars orbiter at their Spacecraft Control Center in the southern Indian city of Bangalore

First ever image of Earth Taken by Mars Color Camera aboard India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft

 

[Glorino]

Congratulations to ISRO -1/12/2013 a great day to rejoice by all people of South Asian origin.It is at the semi final phase now- bless it to reach the final phase on 24-09-2014

 

[SrNair]

Again ISRO make us proud.I am proud to be Indian

I have some doubt.India is first country that successfully perform trans-martian injection at it maiden
interplanetary mission.Am I right?.Please reply.

 

[scorpionx]

This is an earmark and excellent milestone for India's space programme. Congratulations to all my countrymen.

 

[cloud_9]

Wishing ISRO luck for the next leg of the journey.Hopefully everything goes fine

Mars Orbiter Mission is on the way to Mars!

What's next for the mission? According to a Press Trust of India article, the plan includes four trajectory correction maneuvers, the first happening on December 11. The rest are in April 2014, August 2014, and then 10 days before orbit insertion on September 14.

There are a lot of things that are challenging about space exploration. But some things are more hazardous than others. For this mission, the three most hazardous events were always the launch; the injection onto an interplanetary trajectory; and arrival at Mars. All three of these events have to go absolutely perfectly -- any problem would almost certainly mean failure of the mission. Mars Orbiter Mission has now successfully weathered two of the three biggest challenges. The last comes in September 2014, when the spacecraft will meet Mars.

When Mars Orbiter Mission arrives at Mars, the planet and the spacecraft will be on different heliocentric orbits. Mars Orbiter Mission must fire its rocket in the right direction, for long enough, to change its heliocentric orbit enough that Mars' gravity will take control of the spacecraft's path. There is only one chance to get that right. We can look at Japan for two tragic cases when this step did not go well. Japan's Nozomi, which was intended to be a Mars orbiter, suffered a series of setbacks, beginning with a short trans-Mars injection burn, and ending with frozen fuel lines. Nozomi reached Mars but was unable to fire its rocket to enter orbit. Unable to be grabbed by Mars, it continued on a heliocentric orbit and, too damaged to produce a useful science mission, it was shut down. Akatsuki, which was intended to enter orbit at Venus, suffered a catastrophic failure of its rocket motor partway through the burn. Akatsuki shifted its orbit somewhat, but not enough to be able to enter orbit at Venus. There is still a small amount of hope that Akatsuki may be able to achieve Venus orbit once it comes back around the Sun, in 2015 or 2016, but even if it does, it will not be the same mission as intended because it will not be the right orbit.

Of course there are other kinds of failures, too, like the one that happened to NASA's Mars Observer only two days before it was to arrive at Mars. India is not out of the woods yet; the next step, entering Mars orbit, is a tough one, and it comes after 300 days of deep-space operations. But so far, so good. And so far, it is more than India -- or, indeed, most nations -- has ever achieved before.