Mars Orbiter Mission Spacecraft attached to the 4th stage of PSLV-C25 and ready for heat shield closure Image Credit:ISRO Indian Space ...
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| Mars Orbiter Mission Spacecraft attached to the 4th stage of PSLV-C25 and ready for heat shield closure Image Credit:ISRO |
The firing which lasted 3.968 seconds was crucial, as it was idle for almost 300 days. The operation was performed for trajectory correction and changed its velocity by 2.18 metre/second.
With this successful test firing, Mars Orbiter Insertion (MOI) operation of the spacecraft is scheduled to be performed on the morning of September 24, 2014 at 07:17:32 hrs IST by firing the LAM along with eight smaller liquid engines for a duration of about 24 minutes.
Mangalyaan, India's maiden interplanetary probe, was launched on Novemeber 2013 by India's workhorse launch vehicle PSLV.
The spacecraft is being continuously monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore with support from Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antennae at Byalalu.
The Mars Orbiter carries five indigenous scientific instruments — Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP) that measures the relative abundance of deuterium and hydrogen, Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM) for measuring methane in the atmosphere, Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA) for analysing the neutral composition of particles in the exosphere, Mars Colour Camera (MCC) to provide images in the visual spectrum, Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS) to measure the temperature and emissivity of the Martian surface.
If successful, India will become the fourth country to reach Mars and the first country to achieve this in maiden mission.
