MANGALYAAN- The Pride of INDIA

Of all the planets in the solar system, Mars has been subject of human interest for a very long time. The red planet is identical to Earth in many ways. For ages, humans have been contemplating about life on Mars. In spite of that humans are still unsure whether Mars has a biosphere or had a habitat in which life could have evolved or sustained. With these questions in mind, India’s National space agency ISRO launched Mangalyaan, its first interplanetary mission.

Mangalyaan successfully lifted off towards Mars on 5 November 2013 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota using a PSLV rocket C25 at 2:38 PM. The main objective of the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) is to demonstrate India's rocket launch systems, spacecraft constructing and operation capacities. The scientific objective is to analyze Martian atmosphere including its surface features, mineralogy and morphology. It will also seek possibilities of deep space communication and navigation. It also studies the risks involved in incorporating autonomous features to handle contingency situations.

The orbiter weighs about 1,350 kg (including 852 kg of propellant) and includes five instruments to conduct a series of remote-sensing experiments to achieve its scientific objective. PSLV-C25 successfully interpolated the Spacecraft into an elliptical parking Orbit around earth. The spacecraft first going into orbit around the earth, departed towards the Red Planet on December 1, 2013. After a complex and challenging journey of 300 days through deep space, it was put into the Mars orbit on September 24, 2014. MOM covered 680 million km before getting into an elliptical orbit, 80,000 km at its farthest to Mars and 365 km at its closest. Hence, ISRO became the fourth space agency to successfully reach Mars after the Soviet Union, NASA (USA) and ESA (Europe).

The total cost of the Mars Orbiter Mission was nearly Rs 450 crores. It is the most inexpensive inter-planetary mission ever to be initiated. The low cost of the mission was because of numerous factors, including less number of ground tests and long (18-20 hour) working days for scientists.

Mars Orbiter Mission published its first global view of Mars on September 28, 2014. The Indian orbiter will have a functional life of at least six months around Mars. Once the mission is accomplished, the spacecraft would not be permitted to crash on the planet. There would be sufficient propellant to take the unmanned spacecraft away from the Martian environment. The ISRO is currently planning to send a second mission to Mars in the year 2017.