In its its first-ever launch outside the Earth's sphere of influence in
its 44-year-long history, India's premier space agency, ISRO, today
launched the Mangalyaan satellite successfully as PSLV-C25 lifts off
from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, about 100 from
Chennai.
India's first mission to Mars started at 2.38 pm on Tuesday.
The 44.4-metre tall trusted workhorse of the Indian Space Research
Organization (ISRO) stood on its launchpad as its tanks were filled
with fuel that will power the rocket over its four stages into space
to insert the spacecraft into an Earth orbit. Final destination: Mars,
the Red Planet, 400 million km and 300 days' journey away.
The actual launch operations will
only involve about 43 minutes of
rocket flight. But it is still set to
be the longest initial flight for any
launch in ISRO's history.
"If the rocket has to function and
the vehicle is able to put the
satellite into an orbit of 23,500
km-by-250 km, that is sufficient.
There is a band 675 km plus or
minus this number. Anywhere
within that if it is put, it is a
success," ISRO chairman K
Radhakrishnan said of the
expectations for the initial flight
— the first step in the long
journey to Mars.
If all goes well on Tuesday, the next major test for the mission will
come on November 30, when the spacecraft is scheduled to begin
its journey to Mars: The trans Martian injection. And then again in
September 2014, when it will inject the Mars orbiter into the Mars
orbit.
The launch will involve 23 minutes of flight when the rocket will be
visible to ISRO through its own ground station at Biak near
Indonesia. The subsequent operations, during which the rocket will
disengage the spacecraft and place it in a Earth orbit, will be
tracked by special ship-borne terminals: Nalanda and Yamuna in the
South Pacific Ocean.
The specific operations that the ship-borne terminals will monitor
are the ignition of the fourth stage of the rocket at 33 minutes, and
the separation of the satellite from the rocket at around 43
minutes. After the initial 23 minutes, the rocket will coast for about
10 minutes before the fourth stage ignition takes place.
"Up to 23 minutes of flight we can have visibility. Beyond that we
don't have visibility. These ship terminals are placed in two
positions in such way that the ignition of the fourth stage is seen
and the separation of the satellite is seen. Immediately after the
separation of the satellite we also have the deployment of the solar
panel, which happens automatically based on the command stored
in the spacecraft," the ISRO chairman said.
"It is a leap forward. It is a turning point for the country if we are
able to accomplish this. Any progress we make in this is new
learning. Any progress we make from then onwards is a learning for
us," he said.
DESTINATION MARS
A 299-day journey of 400 mn km at a cost of Rs 450 cr
LIFT-OFF: TODAY
PSLV-C25 lifts off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, at
2.38 pm. In 42-min first phase of the flight, Mangalyaan will be put
into a 248 km-by-23,000 km elliptical Earth Parking Orbit.
DEPARTURE: NOV 30
Leaves Earth in a direction tangential to Earth's orbit around the
Sun. Encounters Mars tangentially to its orbit around the Sun.
Trans-Martian injection of December 1 is most crucial part of
mission, says ISRO.
MARS ORBIT INSERTION: SEP 21, 2014
Spacecraft reaches Mars's sphere of influence in hyperbolic
trajectory; expected to be captured into planned orbit when it
reaches Mars Periapsis. Nine earlier Mars missions have failed at
this stage.
Only 21 of the 51 attempted Mars missions have been successful.
Attempts by Japan in 1999 and China in 2011 failed.
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