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.
ISRO’s Orbiter, NASA’s Maven may ‘cruise together’ to Mars The Times of India
India test-fires Mars mission engine The Times of India
The engines of the Indian Mars orbiter were tested for the first time on Monday morning. Speaking to TOI from Bangalore, Isro chief spokesperson Devi Prasad Karnik said the engine, known as the liquid apogee motor (LAM), was fired for about 670 seconds at Isro’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre at Mahendra Giri in Tamil Nadu. “The test was successful and will go on for about 45 days,” he said.
The mission is slated for lift off towards the end of October or beginning of November 2013.
Reach for Mars, Kalam tells India The Times of India
President APJ Abdul Kalam on Wednesday predicted that the planet Mars would become a home for human habitation in the next three decades and moon a major space industry base. “Mars might become a base for human habitation after 30 years and the moon would be a powerful space industry base,” he said interacting with BEL employees from New Delhi over video conference during the golden jubilee celebrations of the public sector giant.
Delhi boy chosen NASA’s ‘student astronaut’ The Times of India
14-year-old Delhi boy has been chosen as a student astronaut to participate in NASA’s ongoing project on Mars exploration. Saatvik Agarwal, a Class X student at Amity International School, Saket, is among the 16 students selected from all over the world through a global contest and would spend about two weeks at the jet propulsion laboratory
A Martian mission for desi Earthlings The Times of India
Attention Martians, the Earthlings have landed! Well, almost. But that’s not all, here’s some news which will make the other kids on the Indian block turn green with envy. Billed as `Red Rover Goes To Mars’, the project forms part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Mars Surveyor 2002 mission and offers an opportunity to students from across the globe to participate in this exploratory mission.
School kids will get chance to involve in NASA’s `Mars mission’ The Times of India
For the first time school kids from India along with their counterparts in different parts of the world will get a chance to participate in NASA’s mission to Mars in 2001 if they get through a tough selection process. The project involves students taking part in the planetary mission at a simulated Mars base on earth located in the U.S.
Cerf wants Internet to cross the final frontier The Times of India
The man who was instrumental in bringing about the internet revolution by designing the Internet Protocol, is now working on a project which resembles science fiction. Vincent Cerf, widely known as the `Father of the Internet’, is working with six engineers to set up an `Interplanetary Internet Backbone’ that would enable communication across planets.