ISRO's Mars Orbiter Insertion is a resounding success, making India the first country to be successful on its maiden Mars mission. Nicknamed 'Mangalyaan', the success of the Mars Orbiter Mission will boost India's five-decade-old space programme. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated ISRO's scientists and addressed the country on the historic occasion.
The Mars Orbiter Mission is India's first interplanetary mission. It was launched on November 5, 2013 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh with the powerful Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) The mission was approved by the Indian government in August 2012 and was executed in 15 months at a cost of Rs. 450 crore ($74 million).
Today's mission was to manoeuvre the spacecraft and slow its speed using the 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor engine aboard the spacecraft to help it enter Mars' orbit. The engine had been idle for almost 300 days and was fired up today for 24 minutes to reduce its speed from 22.1 km per second to 4.4 km per second .The challenge lay in getting the probe's trajectory right and slowing it down so it can be captured by Mars' orbit.
Starting the liquid engine was crucial in controlling the velocity of the craft as it enters Mars' orbit. If this attempt had not worked, ISRO would have made another attempt using eight fuel powered thrusters.
ISRO lauded for its success
President Mukherjee congratulated Dr K Radhakrishnan, the chairman of ISRO, saying, “I extend my hearty congratulations and best wishes to you and your team on the successful orbit insertion manouvre of the Mars Orbiter Mission 'Mangalyaan' after a journey of nearly nine months.” Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan called Mangalyaan’s success a moment of immense national pride. Several other politicians expressed congratulated ISRO. Read more.
Several members of the scientific community shared their joy over Mangalyaan’s success and congratulated ISRO. The well wishers included US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency and Former ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair. Read more.
Bollywood celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Lata Mangeshkar and Sridevi also hailed ISRO for the successful placing of the Mangalyaan.
Trending on Twitter
#Mangalyaan, #MarsMission, #MissionMars and #IndiaAtMarsTwitter were trending topics on Twitter in India and worldwide.This Reverb chart shows the spike in Twitter conversations when The Orbiter reached Mars orbit, as well as the ongoing discussion and congratulatory Tweets in the hours after making orbit.
Live Updates
8:57 IST Wednesday, 24 September 2014
8:25 IST Wednesday, 24 September 2014
NASA congratulates ISRO on its successful mission. Late last night NASA has wished the team at ISRO good luck for its mission today. NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) is currently orbiting Mars and had entered the orbit on Monday.
8:15 IST Wednesday, 24 September 2014
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses ISRO scientists and the country on the success of . He congratulates the scientists and the country on this historic occasion.
Addressing the country, Modi said "History has been created, we have dared to reach out to the unknown. India has created history today, We have reached which was nearly impossible. The odds, were stacked against us. Of the 51 missions, attempted across the world so far, a mere 21 had succeeded. But we have prevailed.
Travelling more than 650 million kms, we have gone past the limits of human imagination. India joins an elite group of just three organisations around the world We have put together the mission within just three years of testing its feasibility
Our scientists have achieved this at a cost which is lesser than some Hollywood movies. It has been built indigenously, in a pan-Indian effort, stretching from Bangalore to Bhubhaneshwar, and Faridabad to Rajkot.
None of the nations have been successful in maiden attempt, India is only country which has been successful in its very first attempt.
These, are all accomplishments, that will go down as landmarks, in history." Read more.
8:06 IST Wednesday, 24 September 2014
ISRO maintains its sense of humour in the face of incredible success.
8:02 IST Wednesday, 24 September 2014
Applause all around at the Control Centre as the message is received that the Mars Orbiter has successfully entered the planet's orbit.
7:58 IST Wednesday, 24 September 2014
The orbiter is out of Mars' shadow right now. ISRO will start to receive signal from Mangalyaan in a few minutes.
7:47 IST Wednesday, 24 September 2014
As the Mars Orbiter turns to face the Earth again, ISRO is now looking to resume communication with the craft.
7:42 IST Wednesday, 24 September 2014
The crucial move of starting the liquid engine has been a success. ISRO scientists must be breathing a huge sigh of relief right now given that engine's functioning would have determined the success of the mission today.
7:31 IST Wednesday, 24 September 2014
Engines of the Mars Orbiter go strong and burn start has been confirmed. Slowing the spacecraft to 1098 metre per second is underway.
7:29 IST Wednesday, 24 September 2014
The radio link between the ISRO engineers and the Mars Orbiter has been blocked as the Mars Orbiter is eclipsed by the red planet.
7:27 IST Wednesday, 24 September 2014
7:12 IST Wednesday, 24 September 2014
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived ISRO's Spacecraft Control Centre in Bangalore.
The mission was shown live on Doordarshan as well as in the ISRO website at http://webcast.isro.gov.in/. Watch what happened:
Objectives of the mission
The primary objective is to conduct meaningful experiments such as looking for signs of life, taking pictures of Mars and studying the Martian environment. It will look for evidence of methane, whose presence can indicate if earth's closest neighbour has an environment to support life.
The mission will include exploring the planet's surface features, morphology, mineralogy and atmosphere by indigenous scientific instruments.It would also help fill the technology gaps in interplanetary explorations.
What happened on September 22
When the Orbiter entered Mars' gravitational influence
As planned the Mars Orbiter entered the planet's gravitational influence on September 22. "Our navigators' calculations show that MOM has entered the Gravitational Sphere of Influence of Mars," ISRO said on its Facebook page, adding, the spacecraft was within 5.4 lakh km radius of the Mars' Gravitational Sphere of Influence.
The 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor engine aboard the Orbiter was test fired. The last time the main liquid engine was active was on December 1, 2013 when it was fired for about 22 minutes.
On Monday the spacecraft's propellant lines were enabled for the propellants to reach the liquid engine. At 2:30 PM ISRO did the Trajectory Correction Maneuver, configured for verifying the performance of the liquid engine. It would also make a correction to the spacecraft's trajectory.
The success of this would go on to determine the strategy for Mars Orbit insertion today. The liquid engine was test fired for 4 seconds and ISRO confirmed its success within 12 minutes.
Why is it important?
The mission demonstrates India's technological capability, its skilled workforce and low cost engineering in high cost area of space exploration. The mission is being carried out at a fraction of the cost compared to foreign missions to Mars. More than half of attempted Mars missions have failed. Only the United States, Russia and the European Union have successfully probes that have successfully entered Mars' atmosphere.
Also Read: India blazes a trail with Mars mission
The mission has drawn criticism for the country's expenditure on its space programme when it suffers from high levels of poverty and malnutrition. India has long argued that technology developed in its space programme has practical applications to everyday life. "For a country like India, it's not a luxury, it's a necessity," said Susmita Mohanty, co-founder and chief executive of Earth2Orbit, India's first private space start-up. She argued that satellites have broad applications from television broadcasting to disaster management.
Also Read: India's Mars Mission 'Mangalayaan' : What is in it for India?
Payloads on the Orbiter
The 15 kgs payloads on the Mars Orbiter Mission include:
Lyman Alpha Photometer, an absorption cell photometer that measures relative abundance of deuterium and hydrogen from Lyman-alpha emission in the Martian upper atmosphere.
Methane Sensor for Mars, designed to measure methane in the Martian atmosphere with PPB accuracy and map its sources.
Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser, a quadruple mass spectrometer capable of analysing the neutral composition in the range of 1 to 300 amu with unit mass resolution.
Mars Color Camera, a tri-color camera that gives images and information about the surface features and composition of Martian surface.
Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer measures the thermal emission and can be operated during both day and night. Temperature and emissivity are two basic physical parameters estimated from thermal emission measurement.
With agency inputs.
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