Mars Orbiter Mission

This article is about the Indian Mars probe. For other Mars orbiters, see list of Mars orbiters and list of missions to Mars.

Mars Orbiter Mission
Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft around Mars (illustration)
NamesMangalyaan-1
MOM
Mission typeMars orbiter
OperatorISRO
COSPAR ID2013-060A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.39370
Websiteisro.gov.in
Mission durationPlanned:
6 months[1]
Final:
7 years, 6 months, 8 days
Spacecraft properties
BusI-1K[2]
ManufacturerU R Rao Satellite Centre
Launch mass1,337.2 kg (2,948 lb)[3]
BOL mass≈550 kg (1,210 lb)[4]
Dry mass482.5 kg (1,064 lb)[3]
Payload mass13.4 kg (30 lb)[3]
Dimensions1.5 m (4.9 ft) cube
Power840 watts[2]
Start of mission
Launch date5 November 2013, 09:08 (2013-11-05UTC09:08) UTC[5][6]
RocketPSLV-XL C25[7]
Launch siteSatish Dhawan Space Centre, FLP
ContractorISRO
End of mission
Last contactApril 2022[8]
Mars orbiter
Orbital insertion24 September 2014, 02:10 UTC (7:40 IST)[9][10]
MSD 50027 06:27 AMT
3714 days / 3615 sols
Orbital parameters
Periareon altitude421.7 km (262.0 mi)[9]
Apoareon altitude76,993.6 km (47,841.6 mi)[9]
Inclination150.0°[9]

Insignia depicting journey from Earth to an elliptical Martian orbit using Mars symbol

Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), unofficially known as Mangalyaan[11] (Sanskrit: Maṅgala 'Mars', Yāna 'Craft, Vehicle'),[12][13] was a space probe orbiting Mars since 24 September 2014. It was launched on 5 November 2013 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).[14][15][16][17] It was India's first interplanetary mission[18] and it made ISRO the fourth space agency to achieve Mars orbit, after Soviet space program, NASA, and the European Space Agency.[19] It made India the first Asian nation to reach Martian orbit and the second national space agency in the world to do so on its maiden attempt after the European Space Agency did in 2003.[20][21][22][23]

The Mars Orbiter Mission probe lifted off from the First Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (Sriharikota Range SHAR), Andhra Pradesh, using a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket C25 at 09:08 (UTC) on 5 November 2013.[5][24] The launch window was approximately 20 days long and started on 28 October 2013.[6] The MOM probe spent about a month in Earth orbit, where it made a series of seven apogee-raising orbital manœuvres before trans-Mars injection on 30 November 2013 (UTC).[25] After a 298-day transit to Mars, it was put into Mars orbit on 24 September 2014.

The mission was a technology demonstrator project to develop the technologies for designing, planning, management, and operations of an interplanetary mission.[26] It carried five scientific instruments.[27] The spacecraft was monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru with support from the Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antennae at Bengaluru, Karnataka.[28]

On 2 October 2022, it was reported that the orbiter had irrecoverably lost communications with Earth after entering a seven-hour eclipse period in April 2022 that it was not designed to survive.[29][30][31] The following day, ISRO released a statement that all attempts to revive MOM had failed and officially declared it dead.[32] The loss of fuel preventing the attitude adjustment of the spacecraft required to sustain battery power to the probe's instruments had been discussed at an ISRO conference on September 27 commemorating the spacecraft's eight-year anniversary of insertion into Mars orbit.[33]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference sf101-20140922 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b "Mars Orbiter Mission Spacecraft". Indian Space Research Organisation. Archived from the original on 25 December 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  3. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Arunan_2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference wapo20140924 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b "Mars Orbiter Spacecraft's Orbit Raised". Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  6. ^ a b "India to launch Mars Orbiter Mission on November 5". The Times of India. Times News Network. 22 October 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  7. ^ "Mars Orbiter Mission: Launch Vehicle". ISRO. Archived from the original on 25 November 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference isro-20221003 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference Isroprel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Tucker, Harry (25 September 2014). "India becomes first country to enter Mars' orbit on their first attempt". Herald Sun. Agence France-Presse. Archived from the original on 30 May 2022. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  11. ^ I Interviewed ISRO Chief S Somanath | Chandrayaan 3 (He mentioned official name is not Mangalyaan but just MOM or Mars Orbiter Mission), 10 July 2023, retrieved 14 July 2023
  12. ^ "Mangalyaan". NASA. 2013. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  13. ^ Wall, Mike (23 September 2014). "India's First Mars Probe Makes Historic Red Planet Arrival". Space.com. The MOM probe, which is named Mangalyaan (Sanskrit for "Mars craft"), executed a 24-minute orbital insertion burn Tuesday night, ending a 10-month space journey that began with the spacecraft's launch on Nov. 5, 2013
  14. ^ Walton, Zach (15 August 2012). "India Announces Mars Mission One Week After Landing". Web Pro News. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  15. ^ "Manmohan Singh formally announces India's Mars mission". The Hindu. Press Trust of India. 15 August 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  16. ^ Bal, Hartosh Singh (30 August 2012). "BRICS in Space". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  17. ^ Patairiya, Pawan Kumar (23 November 2013). "Why India Is Going to Mars". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
  18. ^ "India's Mars Shot". The New York Times. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  19. ^ Chang, Jon M. (5 November 2013). "India Launches Mars Orbiter Mission, Heralds New Space Race". ABC News. Retrieved 6 November 2013.
  20. ^ Burke, Jason (24 September 2014). "India's Mars satellite successfully enters orbit, bringing country into space elite". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 September 2014. India has become the first nation to send a satellite into orbit around Mars on its first attempt, and the first Asian nation to do so.
  21. ^ Lakshmi, Rama (24 September 2014). "India becomes first Asian nation to reach Mars orbit, joins elite global space club". The Washington Post. Retrieved 24 September 2014. India became the first Asian nation to reach the Red Planet when its indigenously made unmanned spacecraft entered the orbit of Mars on Wednesday
  22. ^ Park, Madison (24 September 2014). "India's spacecraft reaches Mars orbit ... and history". CNN. Retrieved 24 September 2014. India's Mars Orbiter Mission successfully entered Mars' orbit Wednesday morning, making India the first nation to arrive on its first attempt and the first Asian country to reach the Red Planet.
  23. ^ Harris, Gardiner (24 September 2014). "On a Shoestring, India Sends Orbiter to Mars on Its First Try". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  24. ^ "India's Mars Mission Mangalyaan to be launched on November 5". Bihar Prabha. 22 October 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  25. ^ "Mars Orbiter Mission: Latest Updates". ISRO. 2 December 2013. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013.
  26. ^ "Mars Orbiter Mission: Mission Objectives". ISRO. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  27. ^ Amos, Jonathan (24 September 2014). "Why India's Mars mission is so cheap – and thrilling". BBC News. Retrieved 25 September 2014. Its measurements of other atmospheric components will dovetail very nicely with Maven and the observations being made by Europe's Mars Express. "It means we'll be getting three-point measurements, which is tremendous."
  28. ^ "Mangalyaan successfully placed into Mars Transfer Trajectory". Bihar Prabha. 1 December 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  29. ^ Kumar, Chethan (2 October 2022). "Designed to last six months, India's Mars Orbiter bids adieu after 8 long years". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  30. ^ "With drained battery & no fuel, India's Mars Orbiter craft quietly bids adieu". Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  31. ^ "Science Programme Office (SPO), ISRO Headquarters". www.isro.gov.in. Archived from the original on 3 October 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2022. It was also discussed that despite being designed for a life-span of six months as a technology demonstrator, the Mars Orbiter Mission has lived for about eight years in the Martian orbit with a gamut of significant scientific results on Mars as well as on the Solar corona, before losing communication with the ground station as a result of a long eclipse in April 2022. During the national meet, ISRO deliberated that the propellant must have been exhausted, and therefore, the desired attitude pointing could not be achieved for sustained power generation. It was declared that the spacecraft is non-recoverable, and attended its end-of-life. The mission will be ever-regarded as a remarkable technological and scientific feat in the history of planetary exploration.
  32. ^ Hindustan Times. "Mangalyaan mission is dead! ISRO Mars Orbiter breaks Indian hearts; it was truly SPECIAL". MSN. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022.
  33. ^ "UPDATE ON THE MARS ORBITER MISSION (MOM) AND THE NATIONAL MEET ORGANISED ON 27 SEPTEMBER, 2022". Indian Space Research Organisation, Department of Space (Press release). 3 October 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2024.