Mangalyaan mission india. (1) World in 4 no in come india. (2) Only $73 million about 450 caror (3) Others country lot of try successful in but india first time in success. (4) America and Russia success but china and Japan fail mission in. (5) India first try in success. Indias ambitious Mars Orbiter Mission, which has already traversed 662 million km, is set to enter the orbit of the red planet on September 24, giving a massive boost to the countrys space programme.After completing about 99.4 per cent of its journey, the spacecraft called Mangalyaan is functioning well and is only 4 million km from Mars, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Saturday.The mission is in good health and doing fine. A small trajectory correction would be done on September 22. We are confident that the liquid engine will be test-fired successfully. The spacecraft is currently traversing at 22 km a second, Dr V. Koteswara Rao, ISRO Scientific Secretary, told Mail Today.If successful, India will be the first Asian country to go to Mars, the first country to be successful in its maiden attempt and the fourth in the world to send a mission to the red planet.Of the 51 missions so far, only 21 have been successful. A similar mission by China failed in 2011. Only the US, Europe and Russia have successfully sent missions toMars or its orbit. Described as a low-budget mission, the $73 million (aboutRs.450 crore) spacecraft costs just a sixth of the$455 million earmarked for NASAs MAVEN, which is expected to reachMars on September 21. According to ISRO, Mangalyaan will focus on an in-depth study of the morphology of the Martian surface and probe the composition of its atmosphere and the space environment. It will study the Martian atmosphere and search fortraces of life using a methane gas sniffer.The methane on earth has both geological and biological origins, so detecting the gas on Mars couldsuggest the presence of Martian microbes.The inter-planetary mission, launched on the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on November 5 last year, will also explore deep seacommunication and navigation. According to ISRO, the spacecraft is expected to enter the orbit of Mars at around 7.30 am on Wednesday.At 2.30 pm on September 22, the main liquid engine of the spacecraft, which has been dormant for 10 months, will be fired for about four seconds, partly to test the engine before September 24 and partly to achievea minor reduction of velocity of about 1.1 km per second to correctits trajectory. This will be the fourthand final trajectory correction during the journey.ISRO is constantly monitoring the health of the spacecraft and has uploaded commands from the 32-metre antenna of the Indian Deep Space Network for inserting the orbiter.Though ISRO is confident of the successful firing of the liquid engine, it is prepared for all contingencies. Eight thrusters will be fired if the liquid engine fails to ignite, officials said. Before firing the engine for 24 minutes and 14 seconds on September 24, the spacecraft will be reoriented to align the thrust vector, or direction of thrust, with that of the orbit of Mars.Because of the Mars-Sun-Earth geometry, the orbit insertion is slated to happen while the spacecraft is in eclipse or under the shadow of Mars. The main liquid engine and eight thrusters will impart a braking velocity of 1.0987 km per second. During this time, the radio link between the mission and the ground station gets blocked by Mars and the spacecraft executes all operations on its own. The burn is terminated when the required braking velocity is achieved.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 12:11:50 +0000
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