India's Journey to the Red Planet

First image taken by MOM on 25th September 2014

First image of the Earth by MCC of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft taken on Nov 19, 2013

What is it?

Mars Orbiter Mission also called The Mangalyaan mission was India's first interplanetary endeavour in its history. ISRO launched the spacecraft which was a homegrown PSLV rocket from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on November 5, 2013 and the rover escaped the gravitational field of earth on December 1, 2013. MOM showcased India's spacecraft building, rocket launch systems and operation capabilities.

Notably, India was Asia’s first nation to enter the Martian orbit, as well as the first country in the world to have done that in its maiden attempt. Not only that, till date the Mangalyaan mission is the cheapest ever inter-planetary mission with a total making cost of Rs 450 crore only. The complete mission was completed in a span of mere 15 months.

Objectives

Following were some of the objectives of the mission –

Scientific Objectives:
- Exploration of Mars surface and its features including morphology and mineralogy.
- Study of Martian atmosphere with distinct scientific instrumentation.
Technology –
- Build and incorporate features to handle contingency situations automatically.
- Design and build the orbiter with capabilities to cruise a 300-day phase, orbit insertion and capture, on-orbit phase around Mars and survive while performing Earth bound manoeuvres.
- Deep space communication and management.

The ₹450 crore Mars Orbiter Mission’s aim is to study the surface and mineral composition of Mars as well as scan its atmosphere for methane which could indicate possibility of life on Mars.

The ISRO spacecraft is tracked by the Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN), located near Bengaluru, and complemented by NASA-JPL's Deep Space Network.

Spacecraft design

The Orbiter has five scientific instruments - Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP), Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM), Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA), Mars Colour Camera (MCC) and Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS).

Mass: The lift-off mass was 1,337.2 kg (2,948 lb), including 852 kg (1,878 lb) of propellant.
Bus: The spacecraft's bus is a modified I-1 K structure and propulsion hardware configuration, similar to Chandrayaan-1, India's lunar orbiter that operated from 2008 to 2009, with specific improvements and upgrades needed for a Mars mission.[43] The satellite structure is constructed of an aluminium and composite fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) sandwich construction.
Power: Electric power is generated by three solar array panels of 1.8 m × 1.4 m (5 ft 11 in × 4 ft 7 in) each (7.56 m2 (81.4 sq ft) total), for a maximum of 840 watts of power generation in Mars orbit. Electricity is stored in a 36 Ah Lithium-ion battery.

Propulsion: A liquid fuel engine with a thrust of 440 newtons (99 lbf) is used for orbit raising and insertion into Mars orbit. The orbiter also has eight 22-newton (4.9 lbf) thrusters for attitude control (orientation).[47] Its propellant mass at launch was 852 kg (1,878 lb).
Attitude and Orbit Control System: Maneuvering system that includes electronics with a MAR31750 processor, two-star sensors, a solar panel Sun sensor, a coarse analog Sun sensor, four reaction wheels, and the primary propulsion system.
Antennae: Low gain antenna, mid gain antenna, and high gain antenna

Achievements

ISRO had announced that MOM was the first human satellite ever to send back a full disc of Mars in one view frame and capture the image of the far side of Deimos.

It also released the data captured from the Mission to the national scientific community after two years paving the way for research and publish of numerous peer reviewed scientific papers across different journals. The space agency had also invited research proposals as Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for the instruments onboard the spacecraft.

Not only was it India’s first and globally the cheapest Interplanetary Space Mission at just $74 million, It was also 1st Indian spacecraft to survive the Van Allen Belt, by crossing it 39 times, which is considered a huge achievement.

MOM mission won the National Space Society’s (US) Space Pioneer Award in 2015 and was also awarded the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for its contribution in strengthening the international cooperation for peaceful use of outer space.

According to ISRO chief K Sivan, the orbiter, which was initially meant to last six months, has completed more than five years of orbiting Mars and is likely to continue for some more time

Problems

The methane-detecting instrument aboard the spacecraft was re-purposed after NASA scientists discovered a design flaw. The data for methane calculation might never come, due to a flaw in the sensor design. The problem has to do with how the instrument collects and processes detections of methane in the atmosphere, a technique known as spectroscopy.

ISRO has released many images for methane but are yet to release the mathematical measurements of atmospheric methane on Mars.

Current Status and Future

On 19 May 2017, MOM reached 1,000 days in orbit around Mars. In that time, the spacecraft completed 388 orbits of the planet and relayed more than 715 images back to Earth. ISRO officials stated that it remains in good health.
On 24 September 2018, MOM completed 4 years in its orbit around Mars, although the designed mission life was only six months. Over these years, MOM's Mars Colour Camera has captured over 980 images that were released to the public. The probe is still in good health and continues to work nominally.
On 24 September 2019, MOM completed 5 years in orbit around Mars, sending 2 terabytes of imaging data, and had enough propellant to complete another year in orbit.
On 1 July 2020, Mangalyaan was able to capture a photo of the Mars satellite Photos from 4200 kms away

Regional dust storm activities over Northern Hemisphere of Mars - captured by MCC

Olympus Mons Water ice Clouds

In future ISRO plans to develop and launch a follow-up mission called Mars Orbiter Mission 2 (MOM-2 or Mangalyaan-2) with a greater scientific payload to Mars in 2024.

Intresting Fact:

Mars Colour Camera on-board Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) captured this spectacular image of flood carved channel system of Kasei Valles on January 12, 2018. Kasei Valles is known to be largest outflow channel system on Mars extending more than 2400 km

India's Journey to the Red Planet

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