Mangalyaan has finally arrived for its tryst with Mars. On Monday , Indias maiden interplanetary spaceship to Mars will enter the planets gravitational field after a long journey that took more than 300 days. The actual insertion of Mangalyaan into an orbit around Mars will take place on Wednesday . A few days ago, scientists at Isros Space Application Center (SAC) had confirmed that all the five instruments on board the orbiter were functioning well and the spacecraft was sending back updates on its performance. On Wednesday , the Earth will be 224 million kilometers from Mars and, for this reason, it will take signals from the orbiter 12.5 minutes to reach Earth. Three of the five instruments on board -the Mars Colour Camera; Mars Sensors for Mars (MSM); and Thermal Infrared Imaging System-were made at SAC. They are in the best of health, said sources in Isro. Wednesdays manoeuvre for insertion into orbit will be crucial for the entire mission as the Mars orbiters Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) will be fired for the first time after December 1, 2013, when it was ignited to send the spacecraft on its way to the red planet. “We are keeping our fingers crossed. We have just one chance at inserting Mangalyaan into Mars orbit. For nearly 300 days, the LAM was idle. We have taken precautions even for corrosion that may occur in fuel lines. A review was conducted in early September and tests had gone well,“ said a senior Isro source.The scientists also have a `Plan B for insertion into orbit. They plan to use eight smaller thrusters to inject Mangalyaan into Martian orbit. This, however, will send the spacecraft into an elliptical 372km x 80,000km orbit instead of the 423 km x 80,000km orbit. Mangalyaans primary objective is to display Indias technological prowess. The five instruments on board would explore Mars surface features, morphology , topography , mineralogical structure and its atmosphere.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 02:37:39 +0000
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