Mangalyan - India's Mars mission

India's Mars mission successful on 1st attempt,  history made

congratulate all ISRO scientists

congratulate all ISRO scientists

Updated on : 24-09-2014 01:08 PM

India on Tuesday created space history by successfully placing its low-cost Mars spacecraft in orbit around the Red Planet in its very first attempt, catapulting the country into an elite club of three nations.

Watched by Prime Minister Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ISRO scientists successfully ignited the main 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) and eight small thrusters that fired for 24-minutes from 7.17 AM and slowed down the speed of Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft 'Mangalyaan' for it to slip into a smooth orbit around the Red Planet after almost an year-long voyage. "Today MOM has met Mangal (Mars). Today Mangal has got MOM. The time this mission was short named as MOM, I was sure that MOM wont disappoint us," Modi, who wore a red coloured jacket, said annnouncing the Rs 450 crore mission's success, after nerve-wracking final moments at the command centre of Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) in Bangalore.  With the success of "Mangalyaan", India has become the first country to go to Mars in the very first try. European, American and Russian probes have managed to orbit or land on the planet, but after several attempts. The first Chinese mission to Mars, called Yinghuo-1, failed in 2011. Earlier in 1998, the Japanese mission ran out of fuel and was lost. Modi, who witnessed the operation along with the space scientists, said the odds were stacked against "us with only 21 of the 51 missions to Mars being successful," but "we have prevailed." "We have gone beyond the boundaries of human enterprise and innovation. We have navigated our craft through a route known to very few," Modi said in a speech in Hindi and English, congratulating the scientists and "all my fellow Indians on this historic occasion." An elated Prime Minister patted the back of ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan and complimented the Indian space scientists for making space history.  ISRO staff celebrate after Mangalyaan successfully enters the Mars orbit (Agence France-Presse photo) "I have said it in the past too, the amount our scientists have spent on this mission is even less than what they spend in making Hollywood movies," he said in his address to the mission scientists. At just 74 million USD, the mission less than the estimated 100 million USD budget of the sci-fi blockbuster "Gravity". India's MOM is the cheapest inter-planetary mission, costing a tenth of NASA's Mars mission Maven that entered the Martian orbit on September 22. It aims to study Mars' surface and mineral composition, and scan its atmosphere for methane, a chemical strongly tied to life on Earth. Given the high rate of failures --only 21 of the total of 51 missions sent to Mars by various countries being successful, the success of MOM has given a boost to India's global standing in Space.  Here are 10 facts about the mission India is the first country in the world to successfully enter the Mars orbit, after the Soviet Union, United States and Europe. (see pics) "The odds were stacked against us. Of the 51 missions, attempted across the world so far, a mere 21 had succeeded. But we have prevailed," said PM Modi. Only NASA, the European Space Agency and the former USSR have been successful in their Mars missions. The first successful mission was by NASA's Mariner 9 in 1971. The most recent failure was that of the Chinese Yinghuo-1 in 2011. PM Modi lauded the Indian Space Research Organisation or ISRO for joining an elite group of only three other agencies worldwide to have successfully reached Red Planet. NASA tweeted, "We congratulate @ISRO for its Mars arrival! @MarsOrbiter joins the missions studying the Red Planet." Mangalyaan, which is the size of a Tata Nano car, was launched in November, 2013, aboard India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C25 rocket. The mission is meant to test India's ability to place a craft in Martian orbit and technologies required for a future interplanetary mission. The MOM or Mars Orbiter Mission was conceived, planned and implemented by ISRO on a shoestring budget of Rs. 450 crores or $ 67 mn. "Even Hollywood movies cost more," said Mr Modi, who had earlier referenced the mega-budget space film "Gravity" to demonstrate his point. Mangalyaan will explore the surface of Mars, its morphology, mineralogy and its atmosphere. Five solar-powered instruments aboard Mangalyaan will gather data to help determine how Martian weather systems work and what happened to the water that is believed to have once existed on the planet in large quantities. At its closest point, the orbiter will be 365 km from the planet's surface, and at its furthest - 80,000 km.                                 Seaflowdiary.blogspot.com congratulare all the ISRO scientists who sacrificed their precious time and efforts for grand success.                                                                             Proud to be an Indian                                                                                                                                  www.seaflowdiary.blogspot.com