Mangalyan Missions Ends: Indian’s maiden Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) has finally called the curtains. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) confirmed on Monday that the Mars Orbiter craft has lost communication with ground station, it’s non-recoverable and the Mangalyaan mission has attained end-of-life. Earlier, it was reported that the interplanetary mission craft had run out of propellant and battery drained beyond the safe limit. Mangalayan has finally completed its long innings.Also Read – Chandrayaan-2, Hovering In Lunar Orbit Since 2019, Maps Abundance Of Sodium On Moon For 1st Time
“It was declared that the spacecraft is non-recoverable, and attained its end-of-life”, an ISRO statement said. “The mission will be ever-regarded as a remarkable technological and scientific feat in the history of planetary exploration”. Also Read – India's Maiden Mars Mission 'Mangalyaan' Runs Out of Fuel; ISRO Says 'Link Lost'
MOM, was launched on November 5, 2013, and after completing 300 days of interplanetary journey, it was inserted to the Martian orbit on September 24, 2014.
MANGALAYAN COMES TO AN END
ISRO officials noted that the Mars orbiter craft functioned for almost eight years, well beyond its designed mission life of six months. With fuel on board, ISRO had been performing orbital manoeuvres on MOM spacecraft to take it to a new orbit to avoid an impending eclipse in the past. Also Read – ISRO Test Fires Hybrid Motor to Power Future Rockets
Mars Mission ( ISRO Twitter, Schematic figure))
“But recently there were back-to-back eclipses including one that lasted seven-and-half hours,” officials said on condition of anonymity, noting that all the propellant on board the ageing satellite had been consumed.
It was also discussed that despite being designed for a life-span of six months the MOM 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, the space agency said.
MARS ORBITER MISSION – A HISTORICAL FEAT
MOM, Rs 450 crore mission, was launched on November 5, 2013, and after completing 300 days of interplanetary journey, it was inserted to the Martian orbit on September 24, 2014.
“Equipped with a five scientific payloads onboard, during these eight years, the mission has gifted significant scientific understanding on the Martian surface features, morphology, as well as the Martian atmosphere and exosphere,” ISRO said.
First Full disk image of Mars captured by Mangalyaan (Image: Twitter ISRO)
The objectives of the mission were primarily technological and included design, realisation and launch of a Mars Orbiter spacecraft capable of operating with sufficient autonomy during the journey phase; Mars orbit insertion/ capture and in-orbit phase around Mars.
The MOM – a technology demonstration venture – carried five scientific payloads (total 15 kg) collecting data on surface geology, morphology, atmospheric processes, surface temperature and atmospheric escape process.
The five instruments are: Mars Color Camera (MCC), Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS), Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM), Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA) and Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP).
“MOM is credited with many laurels like cost-effectiveness, short period of realisation, economical mass-budget, and miniaturisation of five heterogeneous science payloads”, ISRO officials pointed out.
WILL THERE BE ANOTHER MARS MISSION?
Meanwhile, plans on a follow-on ‘Mangalyaan’ mission to the red planet, however, are yet to be firmed up. ISRO came out with an ‘Announcement of Opportunity’ (AO) for future Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM-2) in 2016 but officials acknowledged that it’s still on the drawing board.
According to PTI report, AO had said, “It is now planned to have the next orbiter mission around Mars for a future launch opportunity. Proposals are solicited from interested scientists within India for experiments onboard an orbiter mission around Mars (MOM-2), to address relevant scientific problems and topics.”