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INDIA ONTO MARS IN FIRST 

ATTEMPT

     September 24,2014 is a memorable day for all Indians. We have achieved it ! None in the world has accomplished sun an honour. Becoming success in the FIRST attempt itself !

        INDIA's first mission to Mars has reached its goal as scheduled. The prestigious Mars Orbitor Mission(MOM) launched through the PSLV XL rocket on 5 November 2013 from Shriharikota has travelled about 66 crore kilometres( 666 million-km) along the space for a long period of 300 days until it crossed the orbit of Mars Today 24 September,2014.

        The 1,350 kg spacecraft is equipped with five instruments, including a sensor to track methane or marsh gas, a colour camera and a thermal imaging spectrometer to map the surface and mineral wealth of the red planet.

          It is really a proud moment for us Indians that only 21 of the total of 51 missions sent to Mars by various countries being successful. We have crushed our Asian space rivals, Japan and China who have yet to accomplish in a similar mission.

           The European, American and Russian probes have managed to orbit or land on the planet, but after several attempts. The first Chinese Mars mission, called Yinghuo-1, failed in 2011. In 1998, the Japanese mission ran out of fuel and was lost.

            With the success of 'Mangalyaan', India also becomes the first Asian country to have sent a mission to the red planet. The total cost of MOM is very 'cheap'- only 450 crore rupees as compared to that of the US, Maven that entered the Mars' orbit on September 22(67 crore dollars-equalling to 4180 crore rupees)

            The Indian PSLV XL which started in journey on 5 Nov. 2013 from Shriharikota escaped from the Earth's gravitational field on 1 Dec. 2013 at a speed of 22.14 km per second till it reached near to the Martian orbit. Then the main 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) and eight thrusters on board were ignited for 24-minutes from 7.17 am on 24 Sept. to slow down the spacecraft to 4.4 km per second at the ultimate point to be captured by the Martian orbit.

        This moment was very critical  as it had been lying dormant for about 300 days and was only woken up briefly for four seconds on Monday. A failure could have pushed the Orbiter into the deep depths of space to be lost forever.

         At the time of MOM's orbital insertion, its signals took about 12 minutes and 28 seconds to reach Earth where it was received by NASA's Deep Space Network Stations in Canberra and Goldstone which relayed the data in real time to ISRO's station in Bangalore.

Mars Orbiter Mission: Chronology of events

Following is the chronology of events that traces the journey of Mangalyaan which lasted over 300 days.
Nov 5, 2013: ISRO's PSLV C25 launches India's   Mars Orbiter Mission from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
Nov 7: First Earth-bound manoeuvre performed.
Nov 8: Second Earth-bound manoeuvre performed.
Nov 9: Third Earth-bound manoeuvre performed.
Nov 11: Fourth Earth-bound manoeuvre performed.
Nov 12: Fifth Earth-bound manoeuvre performed.
Nov 16: Sixth Earth-bound manoeuvre performed.
Dec 1: MOM leaves Earth's orbit, Trans-Mars Injection performed.
Dec 4: MOM leaves Earth's Sphere of Influence of 9.25 lakh km radius.
Dec 11: First course correction manoeuvre performed on the spacecraft.
Jun 11, 2014: Second course correction manoeuvre executed.
Sep 22: MOM enters Mars' Gravitational Sphere of Influence; 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor test fired after over 300 days of dormancy; last trajectory correction manoeuvre performed.

Sep 24: MOM reaches the intended orbit around Mars, making India the first country in the world to have successfully launched its mission to the Red Planet on the very FIRST attempt.
                                              (courtesy: Manoramaonline)