The countdown has commenced and the excitement is building for India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) – which will conduct a detailed study of the Martian atmosphere and is the nation’s first ever mission to the Red Planet.
The 56 hour 30 min countdown started at 6:06 a.m. IST today (Nov. 3), according to an official statement from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) leading to liftoff on Tuesday, Nov 5, from a seaside launch pad in Srihanikota, India.
MOM is the first of two new Mars orbiter science probes from Earth set to blast off for the Red Planet this November. Half a globe away, NASA’s MAVEN orbiter remains on target to launch barely two weeks after MOM on Nov. 18 – from the Florida Space Coast.
November 4th, 2013
Countdown Commences for India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) Universe Today
October 22nd, 2013
ISRO’s Orbiter, NASA’s Maven may ‘cruise together’ to Mars The Times of India
India’s preparations for its ambitious mission to the Red Planet are proceeding almost simultaneously with the American project on similar lines. On Sunday, ISRO completed the process of mating the 1,340kg Mars Orbiter with the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, marking a major step in the Rs 450-crore mission. An ISRO official told TOI that the process began on October 18.
On Monday, American space agency NASA moved the Atlas V rocket’s payload to the clean room in preparation for the mating of the spacecraft-Mars Atmosphere And Volatile Evolution Mission (Maven)-with the launcher, which is scheduled to start in early November. ISRO’s next step will be the closure of the heat-shield on Tuesday, when the launch authorization board will also reconvene at Sriharikota to firm up the launch date.
October 21st, 2013
ISRO Mars Mission Launch Delayed as Pacific Storms Delay Main Tracking Ship Sent to Fiji Authint Mail
The launch of the Mars Orbiter Mission will be delayed further owing to storms in the Pacific Ocean, which are affecting two major ships being sent to Fiji to track the trajectory of the PSLV launch with the payload for Mars Orbiter Mission.
However, the launch window is open from October 28 to November 19 and ISRO will launch the Mars Mission anytime during this period.
The main tracking ship MV SCI Nalanda is on its way to Fiji in the Pacific and is now expected to reach on Monday while the second ship Yamuna is already there.
The ships are crucial for tracking and relaying real-time data about the last stages of the launch to release the spacecraft, which will happen over the South Pacific.
October 11th, 2013
12 must-know facts about India’s mission to Mars The Economic Times
Mars Orbiter Mission is India’s first interplanetary mission to planet Mars with an orbiter craft designed to orbit Mars in an elliptical orbit.
October 2nd, 2013
India Mars spacecraft shipped out of Bangalore for October 28 mission The Economic Times
India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft was shipped out of the city today for the October 28 launch from the Sriharikota spaceport, setting the stage for final preparations for the odyssey to the red planet.
“It was put in a special container where we have the monitoring of the environment inside”, an official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told PTI here.
Accompanied by a convoy, the truck-trailer carrying the container is currently on its way by road Sriharikota, where it’s slated to reach tomorrow afternoon. Gandhi Jayanti day was chosen for the journey as traffic would be less.
September 23rd, 2013
Photos and Video of India’s Mars Orbiter Mission, proceeding toward October 28 launch The Planetary Society
Indian media reported over the weekend that the Mars Orbiter Mission has passed some senior review, and has been approved to proceed toward a launch date of October 28, with the launch taking place in the afternoon. This is one week later than previously planned; I haven’t found any reason cited for the delay. The launch period closes November 19. The same article states that the spacecraft is now undergoing vibration testing and that there will be a pre-shipment review on Thursday. Assuming the spacecraft passes that review, it is expected to be shipped to the launch site at Sriharikota a week from today, on September 30. The launch vehicle is being assembled, and the spacecraft will be stacked onto the rocket on October 10.
September 12th, 2013
India advances a step closer to the Red Planet DNA India
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday unveiled its Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft, which is scheduled to be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota between October 21 and November 19. The `450 crore MOM, as it has been officially named by ISRO, will be the space agency’s first interplanetary mission, and it will be launched by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-XL).
Scientists and engineers at the ISRO Satellite Centre, where the spacecraft has been built, said the MOM is the most challenging space mission ever undertaken by India so far. Apart from the fact that it will take about nine months for the space craft to reach the Red Planet after leaving the Earth’s orbit (if the satellite leaves the earth orbit in November 2013, it will reach Mars in September 2014), the scientists and engineers will have the arduous task to realise related deep space mission planning and communication management at a distance of nearly 400 million km.