Much has been said about Indias low-cost mission, ISRO’s Mars mission Mangalyaan. The satellite on the Mars mission was built in record time by ISRO. The Hollywood movie Gravity cost more than our Mars mission - this is a great achievement, PM Modi said. But can Mangalyaan be compared with MAVEN. But should they be compared on price alone ? Its like comparing Tata Nano with Aston Martin. :P The two projects are being conducted for very different reasons. Mangalyaans Payload: Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP) Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS) Mars Color Camera (MCC) Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM) Martian Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyzer (MENCA) MAVENs Payload: Solar Wind Electron Analyzer (SWEA) Solar Wind Ion Analyzer (SWIA) Suprathermal and Thermal Ion Composition (STATIC) Langmuir Probe and Waves (LPW) Magnetometer (MAG) Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NGIMS) MAVEN is larger than MOM. It has a wet mass of 2550 kg and a dry mass of 717kg. MOM has a wet mass of 1350 kg and a dry mass of 500 kg. MAVEN at its aphelion will pull in 1215 W of solar power. MOM pulls in 840 W. MAVENs on-orbit mission at Mars is planned to last at least 1 year. MOM is planned for 160 days. MAVENs closest approach to Mars is about 150 km. MOMs closest approach is 377 km ISROs mission is foremost a technology testbed and secondarily a platform for obtaining Mars information. NASAs mission is primarily a platform to obtain Mars information.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 02:23:56 +0000
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