India's space ambition made a giant leap

Mars spacecraft successfully placed in orbit around earth

3.25 pm:The satellite has been placed on the elliptical orbit 

of Earth.

2.38 pm:Indian rocket carrying the country's first Mars orbiter 

on Tuesday took off from the launch pad at the Satish 

Dhawan Space Centre here in Andhra Pradesh.

Exactly at 2.38 p.m., the rocket -- Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C25 (PSLV-C25) --standing around 44 metres tall and 

weighing around 320 tonnes hurtled towards the heavens 

with orange flames fiercely burning at its tail.

The space centre is around 80 km north of Chennai.

The total project cost is around Rs.450 crore with the rocket 

costing around Rs.110 crore, orbiter around Rs.150 crore 

and the balance spent on beefing up the ground support 

and tracking systems.

The entire flight sequence -- lift-off to the satellite ejection -- 

will take around 44 minutes -- nearly double the time of 

normal PSLV rocket missions.

India began its space journey in 1975 with the launch of 

Aryabhatta using a Russian rocket and till date, it has 

completed over 100 space missions.

14. 22 pm:US Ambassador to witness Mars mission 

launch

US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell is in India to witness 

the launch of the Mars mission from Sriharikota in Andhra 

Pradesh.

Soon after arrival, she left for the spaceport, about 100 km 

from here.

14.05 pm:ISRO chairman Radhakrishnan arrives at mission 

control center.

12.29 pm:NASA spacecraft MAVEN to enter Mars orbit the 

same day as India's orbiter in September 2014.

11.54 am:All vehicle systems switched on. The countdown 

for the launch started at 6:08 hours (IST).

11.40 am:Second Stage (PS2) Propellant filling operations 

completed.

Space scientists at Indian Space Research Organisation's 

(ISRO) rocket mission control room were intently watching 

the rocket escaping the earth's gravitational pull with a one-

way ticket.

The heat shield had separated as scheduled and the 

mission was on track, an ISRO official said.

ISRO officials are hoping that the agency's crucial space 

mission will turn out to be a grand success.

The PSLV-C25 rocket is expected to spit out its only 

luggage, the 1,340 kg Mars orbiter.

India's space ambition made a giant leap at 2.38pm on 

Tuesday - mangalvaar, the day of planet Mars. The country's 



first 

mission to the red planet lifted off from the Satish Dhawan 

Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh with the Mars 

Orbiter on board, along with other scientific equipment.

If all goes according to plan, this will also push India into a 

very small club of nations with interplanetary travel 

capabilities. The nine-month long journey, after the Orbiter 

goes around Earth for 22-25 days, is scheduled to enter 

Mars' orbit on September 24, 2014.

The Mars Orbiter will observe the physical features of Mars 

and conduct limited study of the Martian atmosphere as 

finalised by the Advisory Committee on Space Sciences. The 

pay loads include Lyman Lpha Photometer to measure the 

relative abundance of deuterium and hydrogen from Lyman-

alpha emission; Methane Sensor for Mars to measure 

methane in the Martian atmosphere, and thus determine 

past existence of life; Mars Colour Camera to capture images 

and information about the surface of Mars and its 

composition; Mars Exopheric Neutral Composition Analyser, 

which is 

a spectrometer; and Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer 

to map surface composition and mineralogy of Mars.

On Monday, officials at the SDSC were busy conducting 

mandatory checks and preparations for propellant filling 

operations of Second Stage (PS2).

"On Sunday, we completed a host of operations, such as, 

propellant filling of PS4 stage and RCT; filling of Mixed 

Oxides 

of Nitrogen (MON); filling of Mono Methyl Hydrazine (MMH) 

and Reaction Control Thrusters (RCT). The Mars Orbiter 

Mission is on schedule," a senior official from SDSC said.

Thrusters (RCT). The Mars Orbiter Mission is on schedule," 

a senior official from SDSC said.

Read more at:http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/india-mars-orbit-mission-isro-sriharikota/1/321629.html

TheRs.450-crore Mars Orbiter Mission is India's first 

interplanetary mission to planet Mars with an orbiter craft 

designed 

to orbit Mars in an elliptical orbit. The project, built over a 

remarkably short period of two years, is primarily a 

technological mission considering the critical operations and 

stringent requirements on propulsion and other systems 

of the spacecraft.

Just 21 out of the 51 missions launched to Mars by different 

countries have been successful and that too by only three 

space agencies - NASA, European Space Agency and the 

Russian Federal Space Agency (better known as 

Roscosmos). ISRO's success will put India into a league 

China tried, and failed, to enter last year. Japan's Mars 

mission had failed too in 2003.

The success of the Mars Orbiter Mission, therefore, will also 

make India the only Asian nation to have achieved the feat. 

But Isro is quick to dismiss any talk of the mission being 

about an Asian space race. "One of the main objectives of 

the 

first Indian mission to Mars is to develop the technologies 

required for design, planning, management and operations 

of an interplanetary mission.

The technological objective include design and realisation of 

a Mars orbiter with a capability to survive and perform 

Earthbound manoeuvres, cruise phase of 300 days, Mars 

orbit insertion /capture, and on-orbit phase around Mars; 

ensure deep space communication, navigation, mission 

planning and management," a spokesperson for the mission 

pointed out.

Mega bill sparks huge debate

Can a country with millions of poor afford to spendRs.450 

crore on a Mars exploration mission? India's ambitious Mars 

Orbiter Mission has sparked a heated debate on the utility of 

the project, with even Isro’s own former chairman G. 

Madhavan Nair terming it a "national waste".

"Not only Nair, even (development economist) Jean Dreeze 

made the same argument. Do we need an MOM at the cost 

of Rs.450 crore when we have children dying of malnutrition 

and rural sanitation remains a distant dream? Space quest 

is understandable for advanced economies. May be our 

priorities are wrong," said development economist Dr G. 

Neginhal. Isro officials, though, beg to differ.

"ISRO is pursuing specific objectives, as the government 

provides aims and goals to different departments.

It is wrong to compare two different issues," a spokesperson 

said.

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