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Mangalyaan enters last leg: Will India win Asian race to Mars?
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September 22, 2014 11:15 IST
Mangalyaan is scheduled to enter the Mars orbit on September 24. Photograph: ISRO
On Monday, ISRO scientists will run a test of the Mars orbiter satellite's main engine and make a small course correction. This is crucial because the engine has been idle for nearly 10 months. T E Narasimhan reports
India is awaiting the dawn of September 24 with fingers crossed. The day will be engraved in golden letters if the Indian Space Research Organisation is able to put its satellite into the Mars orbit. As the clock ticks, excitement has enveloped the country with ordinary Indians and the scientific community wishing for a breakthrough.
With 48 hours left for the insertion, India will be the first country to enter the Mars orbit on a maiden mission if it succeeds. India will also be the first Asian country and ISRO the fourth space agency to send a satellite to the red planet. European, United States and Russian probes have managed to orbit or land on the planet, but after several attempts.
ISRO scientists are confident the mission will succeed. A successful Mars mission will also boost the standing of ISRO's launch vehicles, the PSLV and GSLV, and payloads for other countries to use at lower cost. India's $74 million Mars orbiter mission Mangalyaan costs roughly a 10th of NASA's mission Maven, which began orbiting Mars on a mission to study climate change.
At ISRO's Bangalore ground station, officials have been busy for the past couple of days taking readings and conducting procedures. On September 17, command uplinks were uploaded and two days later ISRO powered on major sensors and electrical subsystems required for inserting the spacecraft into orbit.
On Monday, ISRO scientists will run a test of a main engine and make a small course correction. This is crucial because the engine has been idle for nearly 10 months.
"If you get tense, you tend to make mistakes. So far, things are going fine," said ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan. The engine will be fired for four seconds and almost half a kg of fuel will be needed for this operation.
If there is a problem in test firing, ISRO will use eight small thrusters for altitude control and orientation, which may not offer the original target but will salvage the mission.
On November 5, 2013, ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C25 took off from the Sriharikota space station, near Chennai, with five scientific payloads to observe the Martian surface.
NOT JUST A WEDNESDAY
Mangalyaan enters last leg: Will India win Asian race to Mars? - Rediff.com India News
To get such articles in your inbox
Text size: A A A
September 22, 2014 11:15 IST
Mangalyaan is scheduled to enter the Mars orbit on September 24. Photograph: ISRO
On Monday, ISRO scientists will run a test of the Mars orbiter satellite's main engine and make a small course correction. This is crucial because the engine has been idle for nearly 10 months. T E Narasimhan reports
India is awaiting the dawn of September 24 with fingers crossed. The day will be engraved in golden letters if the Indian Space Research Organisation is able to put its satellite into the Mars orbit. As the clock ticks, excitement has enveloped the country with ordinary Indians and the scientific community wishing for a breakthrough.
With 48 hours left for the insertion, India will be the first country to enter the Mars orbit on a maiden mission if it succeeds. India will also be the first Asian country and ISRO the fourth space agency to send a satellite to the red planet. European, United States and Russian probes have managed to orbit or land on the planet, but after several attempts.
ISRO scientists are confident the mission will succeed. A successful Mars mission will also boost the standing of ISRO's launch vehicles, the PSLV and GSLV, and payloads for other countries to use at lower cost. India's $74 million Mars orbiter mission Mangalyaan costs roughly a 10th of NASA's mission Maven, which began orbiting Mars on a mission to study climate change.
At ISRO's Bangalore ground station, officials have been busy for the past couple of days taking readings and conducting procedures. On September 17, command uplinks were uploaded and two days later ISRO powered on major sensors and electrical subsystems required for inserting the spacecraft into orbit.
On Monday, ISRO scientists will run a test of a main engine and make a small course correction. This is crucial because the engine has been idle for nearly 10 months.
"If you get tense, you tend to make mistakes. So far, things are going fine," said ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan. The engine will be fired for four seconds and almost half a kg of fuel will be needed for this operation.
If there is a problem in test firing, ISRO will use eight small thrusters for altitude control and orientation, which may not offer the original target but will salvage the mission.
On November 5, 2013, ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C25 took off from the Sriharikota space station, near Chennai, with five scientific payloads to observe the Martian surface.
NOT JUST A WEDNESDAY
Mangalyaan enters last leg: Will India win Asian race to Mars? - Rediff.com India News
