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India's Mars orbiter mission in last stages of readiness; fourth phase propellant filling in progress
CHENNAI: India's first Mars orbiter mission is in the last stages of readiness, with propellant being filled into the fourth and last phase of the rocket at 1.30pm.
The countdown started at 6.08am on Sunday. PSLV-C25 carrying the Mars orbiter will blast off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre inSriharikota, 100km north of Chennai at 2.38pm on Tuesday.
Scientists at the spaceport told TOI that all the preparations are going on as per schedule. "The weather is fine and all parameters are just great for the launch," an Indian room Space Research Organisation (Isro) official said. India will be the fifth after the US, Russia, China, Japan and the European Union to launch a Mars mission. The orbiter will remain in Earth orbit till December 1 when it starts its 300-day voyage to Mars. It is expected to reach the orbit of the red planet on September 24, 2014, after traversing 400 million km.
The payload has five indigenous instruments that would look for, among other things, traces of methane and deuterium, signs of possible early life and water in Mars. Of the 51 such missions by the US and Russia/ USSR, ONLY 21 have been successful.
"Orbiting Mars itself is a challenge," said Isro Chairman K Radhakrishnan. "This is our first interplanetary mission. There will be bigger missions later."
Fourteen days after the Indian mission, the US will be launching a similar Mars orbiter called MAVEN. "It's not a competition," Radhakrishnan said. "The results of the missions will be shared."
Nasa's Deep Space Network will be helping Isro track the spacecraft during its 300-day journey through space. This month offers a window of opportunity for Mars missions; the next would be in January 2016. "We wanted the first available opportunity once the government cleared the project," Radhakrishnan said.
Link - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...-filling-in-progress/articleshow/25177126.cms
CHENNAI: India's first Mars orbiter mission is in the last stages of readiness, with propellant being filled into the fourth and last phase of the rocket at 1.30pm.
The countdown started at 6.08am on Sunday. PSLV-C25 carrying the Mars orbiter will blast off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre inSriharikota, 100km north of Chennai at 2.38pm on Tuesday.
Scientists at the spaceport told TOI that all the preparations are going on as per schedule. "The weather is fine and all parameters are just great for the launch," an Indian room Space Research Organisation (Isro) official said. India will be the fifth after the US, Russia, China, Japan and the European Union to launch a Mars mission. The orbiter will remain in Earth orbit till December 1 when it starts its 300-day voyage to Mars. It is expected to reach the orbit of the red planet on September 24, 2014, after traversing 400 million km.
The payload has five indigenous instruments that would look for, among other things, traces of methane and deuterium, signs of possible early life and water in Mars. Of the 51 such missions by the US and Russia/ USSR, ONLY 21 have been successful.
"Orbiting Mars itself is a challenge," said Isro Chairman K Radhakrishnan. "This is our first interplanetary mission. There will be bigger missions later."
Fourteen days after the Indian mission, the US will be launching a similar Mars orbiter called MAVEN. "It's not a competition," Radhakrishnan said. "The results of the missions will be shared."
Nasa's Deep Space Network will be helping Isro track the spacecraft during its 300-day journey through space. This month offers a window of opportunity for Mars missions; the next would be in January 2016. "We wanted the first available opportunity once the government cleared the project," Radhakrishnan said.
Link - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...-filling-in-progress/articleshow/25177126.cms
