PSLV puts Mars orbiter precisely into earth-orbit; trip to the Red Planet will take more than 300 days
WORKHORSE DOES IT AGAIN: Soaring majestically into the sky on Tuesday from Sriharikota is PSLVC25 with the Mars orbiter.
The nation’s prestigious interplanetary mission to Mars, 40 crore km
away, got off to a flying start on Tuesday when the Indian Space
Research Organisation’s trusty Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C25)
roared off the first launch pad of the spaceport at Sriharikota at 2.38
p.m. and put the Mars orbiter precisely into its earth-orbit about 44
minutes later.
This was the first crucial and difficult step in the ISRO’s Mars Orbiter
Mission. However, the XL version of the PSLV achieved it with aplomb.
The elliptical orbit achieved was so accurate that against the predicted
perigee of 250 km and an apogee of 23,500 km, it went into an orbit of
246.9 km x 23,566 km.
The spacecraft first going into orbit around the earth signalled the
start of its 300-day voyage to the Red Planet. If everything goes well
during this complex and challenging journey through deep space, it will
be put into the Mars orbit on September 24, 2014.
Mission highlights
Two mission highlights are: it was the longest PSLV mission at 44
minutes — the previous missions lasted about 18 minutes, and this was
the silver jubilee lift-off of the PSLV. Out of the 25 launches, 24 had
been successful in a row.
Suspense filled the newly-built Mission Control Centre (MCC) when there
was a long coasting phase of 25 minutes between the PSLV’s third stage
burnout and the fourth stage ignition.
Tension gripped the MCC again for about half-a-minute for it was only 37
seconds after the fourth stage burnout that the spacecraft was put into
orbit. But all this was as planned.
The ISRO scientists’ cup of joy overflowed when M.S. Pannirselvam, Range
Operations Director, PSLV-C25, announced tersely from the MCC,
“Spacecraft separation achieved. It has been successfully put into
orbit.”
Asked later how he felt when he made the announcement, he said, “We had no feeling. We were doing our job.”
Applause erupted when ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan, who did not hide
his joy, turned towards his colleagues in the MCC and acknowledged their
cheers with folded hands. He called the flight a copybook and textbook
mission. It was a new and complex mission in design and execution, he
said.
Project Director of Mars Orbiter S. Arunan called it an “excellent
mission.” The primary and secondary panels and the high gain antenna of
the spacecraft had been deployed. “The spacecraft is in good heath,” he
said.
Yash Pal, former Member of the Space Commission, called the successful mission ISRO’s “very very special gift to the nation.”
Long way to go
All former and present brass of ISRO tried to temper the delight by
cautioning that “there was a long way to go in time and distance” before
the orbiter was put into the Martian orbit in September 2014. They
included present top engineers S. Ramakrishnan, M.Y.S. Prasad, A.S.
Kiran Kumar, S.K. Shivakumar, M.C. Dathan, P. Kunhikrishnan and the
former ISRO chairmen, U.R. Rao and K. Kasturirangan. They emphasised
that “while the first job has been successfully done, a long journey
lies ahead.”
Dr. Kasturirangan pointed out that this was the first time that an Indian spacecraft had been sent out of the Earth’s gravity.
Keywords: ISRO, Mars Orbiter Mission, Mangalyaan, deep space mission, inter-planetary probe, MOM, Sriharikota, SHAR
Courtesy:The HIndu
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