The important move by India is being watched by the world. Here
are some of the highlights of the Mars mission of India:
- Distance to Mars: 400 million km
- Duration of journey: 300 days
- Launch time: 23 minutes as the rocket will be visible to ISRO through its own ground for this period.
- Mars orbit insertion date: September 12, 2014
- Next major date: November 30, when the aircraft will begin its journey to Mars. Before this date, it will continue to revolve around Earth
Cost of mission: Rs
450 crore
MISSION'S OBJECTIVES
# Orbit manoeuvres to ensure final capture into Martian orbit
# Development of force models and algorithms for orbit and
attitude computations and analyses
# Maintain the probe in all phases of the mission, meeting power,
communications, thermal and payload operation requirements
# Look for methane on Mars, for detection of life on the planet
EYE ON THE SKY
# During the launch, the Mangalyaan Mission was tracked by two
specially equippeed Shipping Corporation of India ships--Yamuna and Nalanda,
positioned in the South Pacific Ocean.
# During its journey from Earth to Mars, the Mars Orbiter will be
tracked using the Indian Deep Space Network at Baylalu on the outskirts of
Bangalore and sea-borne S-band terminals.
# At the time of the Mars capture in September 2014, tracking and
communication with the satelite will be done using the 70-metre antenna of
NASA's deep space network at Canberra in Australia.
The Team
- S
K Shivakumar: The Director of the ISRO
Satellite Centre, which built the Mars Orbiter and spacecraft. An engineer
from the Indian Institute of Science, he was earlier the head of ISRO's
telemetry, tracking and command network, ISTRAC.
- Dr
Mylswamy Annnadurai: The
Programme Director of IRS & SSS (Indian Remote Sensing & Small,
Science and Student Satellites) at ISRO, he was the project director of
the Moon Mission and is overseeing the one to Mars as well.
- P
Kunhikrishnan: He is the
Mission Director for the launcher. From the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre
in Thiruvananthapuram, Kunhikrishnan has seven successful PSLV launches
under his belt since 2009.
- S
Arunan: The Project
Director for the Mars Orbiter. For the senior scientist with the ISRO
Satellite Centre, the Mars Mission is a maiden venture as Project
Director. His team created the Mars Orbiter for ISRO in 12 months and is
now bracing for sleepless nights as the mission approaches countdown.
- Dr
V Kesavaraju: The Mission Director for the
post-launch operations. A team led by Dr Kesavaraju of the ISRO Satellite
Centre will monitor the Mars Mission following its launch, including
tracking it in outer space.
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