Resounding success kisses ISRO as the Mars Orbiter for Mars
makes its rendezvous with the Red Planet.
With Prime Minister witnessing the event live from the ISRO’s mission
control centre, scientists erupted in joy at the ISRO’s Telemetry, Tracking and
Command Network received signals travelling 680 million kilometres. MOM
switched into mission mode and started orbiting around Mars by 7:47 IST and the
signals reached the ground station after 12.5 minutes. This is a glorious day of Indian science.
With this India has become first country in the World to place spacecraft in
the Martian Orbit in its maiden effort. Till now 51 missions have been
attempted by various countries, 21 have succeeded. With this ISRO entered the
elite club of three agencies which include the European Space Agency (ESA) of
European Consortium, National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) of the US
and Roscosmos of Russia
MOM began its odyssey to the red planet when the work horse
PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) successfully lifted off from Satish
Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota on November 5th, 2013. The journey
of the satellite has been near perfect and it left the earth’s sphere of
influence on December 5th 2013. It has been idling in the space for
300 days and entered the Mars gravitational sphere of influence on September 22nd
when the engine was fired briefly for four seconds. The success of crucial test
firing indicated healthy state of spacecraft boosting the confidence of the
scientists. On Wednesday, the Orbiter first reoriented itself and the speed was
brought down to 4.4 km per second. This was followed by firing of engine for
crucial 24 minutes. All the commands preloaded 10 days back were executed
perfectly facilitating the entry of the spacecraft into its designated
elliptical orbit of 423km at its nearest point from Mars and 83,000 km at its
farthest point from Mars. The 450 Crores unostentatious satellite will deploy
five instruments all of them indigenously built to study the Martian
atmosphere, its mineral composition and to detect the presence of methane gas.
The 15 kg payload comprises of a methane sensor, thermal infrared sensor, Lyman
Alpha Photometer, Martian Exospheric Neutron Composition Analyser or MENCA and
a Mars colour Camera. During its eventful stay of 6 months Mars Mission will
have two unique opportunities of major study. These include a study of Mars
satellite Phobos and a comet expected to pass by Mars at a distance of 50,000km.
MOM
a brain child of ISRO was built indigenously and designed in a record time with
a frugal budget and costs roughly a ninth of the NASA’s Mars space mission
Maven that entered Mar’s Orbit on September 21st. ISRO has embarked
on the challenging mission of interplanetary space voyage for not executing
some exotic experiments but to prepare ground for future missions. The purpose
of the mission was to test India’s ability to send a satellite which can go way
beyond Mars and orbit around the planet.
Besides accomplishing remarkable scientific landmarks, MOM
mission has literally made Indians proud. Despite the inherent limitations,
Indian scientists with their meticulous planning, persistence and endless hours
of work achieved the near impossible. This glorious event has rekindled the
spirits and bolstered the confidence of youngsters in the magic Indian science.
It also spurred the need to develop scientific temper and outlook. The success
augurs well with the aspirations of the new generation of Indians striving to
catapult India from its status of emerging nation to a developed nation.
India’s resilience and steady progress in space exploration is befitting reply
to all critics who ridiculed the government’s decision of allotting public
funds for space research.
Till now, MOM mission received an uncharacteristic attention
and the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the momentous climax of
this historical event caught the public eye. In his exuberant congratulatory
note he stressed the need to inculcate the scientific spirit and gave clarion
call to explore the unknown. MOM mission
has certainly revved up the spirits of the scientists the true harbingers of
scientific progress. It has also expanded the realm of ISRO to expand its
scientific aspirations and technological capabilities. ISRO’s true test of
scientific acumen lies in constructing cryogenic engines, the crucial component
of the GSLV (Geo Stationary Launch Vehicle) launch vehicle which can carry pay
loads of 1500kg and more. India successfully test fired indigenously developed
cryogenic engine in January 2014 holding a great promise for more space
explorations. MOM mission has become a harbinger of new hope and Indian spirits
soared high and chest welled with pride with its success.
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