Indian Martian exploration program

[tramp]

Mars beckons ISRO, orbiter taking shape
Mars beckons ISRO, orbiter taking shape - The Hindu

The mother of all Indian space designs to date, Mars Orbiter Mission or MOM for now, is shaping up at a feverish pace at the satellite assembly centre here. It has a hit or miss date to keep. The earliest once-in-26-months window of opportunity opens in October.

The Rs. 450-crore mission aims to glean Mars from as close as 372 km from its surface and it would be the first ever to scour its atmosphere and surface for methane there, an official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told The Hindu.

The presence of methane is a telltale sign of life that may have existed on the planet.

Lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 became famous for detecting water particles on the Moon's soil with the help of a U.S. instrument.

The MOM will establish the country's technological capability to take up such a long shot some 400 million km away. The journey would be 1,000 times longer than Chandrayaan-1,sent in 2008.

The Mars mission is "India's next challenging technological mission out of the Earth's gravitational field," according to the ISRO.

The orbiter, a 1,350-kg spacecraft, will carry five main payloads or instruments. The ISRO expects to launch it towards October-end or the beginning of November, depending on the weather. That will be the cyclone season.

"As per plans, the satellite is expected to exit the Earth orbit on November 26/27, travel towards Mars over around 300 days. We plan to insert the satellite in an orbit around Mars on September 22, 2014," the official said.

Soon after the launch, it would be gradually pushed to higher orbits four times when it is made to escape out of the Earth's pull. It will go round Mars in an elliptical path closest at 372 km and farthest at 80,000 km. It will map the martian terrain and figure out the minerals on the surface, similar to what Chandrayaan-1 did around the Moon for 10 months. (It died prematurely without completing the planned two years.)

A modified PSLV-XL rocket, numbered C-25, similar to the lunar launcher, is also getting ready at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram. The orbiter will take off from the launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

In order not to miss the closest Earth-Mars position coming up next year, the journey "demands a cumulative incremental velocity of 2.592 km/sec," says ISRO's newly released annual report 2012-13.

 

[tramp]

Do not know how far this news is realiable.
However, I had thought 2013 deadline a little unrealistic, given the pace at which India has been moving. There is so much backlog with so many postponements. So, is the ISRO seeking an honourable way to delay another launch?

dna exclusive: Comet Mars Isro's Rs450cr dream mission - Sci/Tech - DNA

India's Mars mission is suffering from birth pangs. A comet heading towards the planet could derail Indian Space Research Organisation's (Isro) project, worth Rs450 crore, scheduled to take off in October-November this year.

Scientists are now exploring the possibility of postponing the launch to allow the comet to pass by Mars before the spacecraft lands.

The comet — C/2013 A1 — is approaching the red planet at a speed of 2 lakh km/hour and has a probability of 1 in 8,000 to strike Mars.

As per current trajectory projections, calculated by US' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), the comet will be closest to Mars at a distance of 3 lakh km. But the planet will be engulfed in the tail of the comet — extending to millions of kilometres — which will be on Mars' sunward side.

The tail of a comet points away from the sun due to radiation effects.

The comet poses a problem because no one knows its precise properties, and therefore, the effects it'll leave behind. It was discovered only on January 3 this year by Rob McNaught at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. And our mission will reach the planet just a month before the comet's arrival.

Isro scientists admit that India's Mars mission will be affected by the comet.

One of the main objectives of the mission is to detect methane in the Martian atmosphere with a methane sensor for Mars (MSN). The sensor will be one of the five payloads on board the unmanned spacecraft, which is expected to orbit the planet at an altitude of 500km after covering a journey 5.46 crore km through space in nine months.

A senior scientist working on the Mars mission explains how the comet could scuttle the project.
"Most comets have methane, and there is a good chance that our MSN payload may confuse the methane it detects from the comet as that of Mars and transmit wrong data. Such data will mislead us. Even Nasa is wary."

Prof Tushar Prabhu, dean of Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), agrees that the comet's tail, which is packed with methane, will play the spolier. He hopes that Isro will take a guarded decision on the mission.

M Annadurai, Mars mission project director, is non-committal on whether the launch date would be pushed ahead, saying it all boils down to the comet's trajectory. "It's too early to say anything right now....but we are in touch with Nasa scientists on this."

Although he neither denies nor confirms the rescheduling, he gave enough hints that the current date — November 27 — of the launch could be changed.

Isro had zeroed in on three launch windows for the mission — November 2013-January 2014, January-April 2016; and April-May 2018.

Isro scientists are not sure if the launch date could be postponed within the current launch window (November 2013-January2014) or if they'd have to wait till 2016 or 2018.

But Prof UR Rao, one of India's staunchest supporters for exploring and colonising Mars and who is also chairman of the governing council of Isro's Ahmedabad-based Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), suggests that "we have to take some risks".

"There is still time [to change plans]," says IIA's Prof Prabhu. "I hope Isro scientists take the right decision on time. It will be a difficult decision."

The presence of methane on Mars is indicative of two things — signs of life or possibilities of chemical reactions, just like on Earth.

Methane was faintly detected on Mars a few years ago. But its presence could not confirmed as the Nasa rover then could detect only a larger volume of the gas at a go — about several parts per billion.

Prof JN Goswami, director of PRL, says India's MSN payload can detect even faint amounts — 10 parts per billion.

The comet has taken even Nasa by surprise. It, too, will send out a craft — MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) — to study Mars' upper atmosphere in November this year.

The launch was planned much ahead of C/2013 A1's discovery and its close Mars fly-by. It will reach the planet around the same time as India's spacecraft.

 

[Apollyon]

 

[bhramos]

Mars Ahoy! Indian scientists are gung ho about putting an orbiter around the Red Planet

 

[sorcerer]

Jai Hind!!!

 

[U Sun Dar]

5 rocket launches, including Mars mission, in 2013

India's space agency is planning to have a total of five rocket launches in 2013 from its rocket launch pad at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, around 80 km from here. This will include a mission to Mars later this year.

Four of the launches are expected to happen between June and December, including the launch of communication satellite G-Sat 14 using heavier rocket – Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) – powered with a domestic cryogenic engine.

"Between June 10 and 15 we are planning to launch the first navigational satellite, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System-R1A (IRNSS-R1A) and it will be followed by the launch of G-Sat 14 some time in July," a senior official at Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said, preferring anonymity.

According to officials, the assembling of two rockets is going on at a good pace at the rocket launch centre. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-XL (PSLV-XL) version that will carry the navigation satellite is being assembled at the first launch pad.

"The assembling of the first stage/engine and the strap on motors has been completed. The second stage is under preparation. The satellite is expected soon from the satellite centre in Bangalore," officials said.

The IRNSS-R1A satellite will be the first of seven satellites to be launched into earth orbit to provide real-time position, navigation and time services to multiple users. The space agency plans to launch the second navigation satellite three months after in-orbit tests of the first one and the remaining five satellites over a 14-month period by 2014-15.

These two launches will be followed by the mission to Mars later this year. The launch of one more remote sensing satellite is also being planned before the end of this year.

In February this year India launched the Indo-French Saral satellite and six other small foreign satellites using the PSLV rocket.

India started putting into space third-party satellites for a fee in 1999 on its PSLV-C2 rocket. Since then India has been successful in launching medium-weight satellites for overseas agencies. Initially ISRO started carrying third-party satellites atop PSLV rockets as co-passengers of its own remote sensing/earth observation satellites.

In 2007 ISRO for the first time launched an Italian satellite – Agile – as a standalone for a fee.

India has earned a revenue of $17.17 million and euro 32.28 million by launching 35 foreign satellites till date, parliament was told recently by V. Narayanasamy, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office.

"Some customers paid in dollars and some in euros and hence we are giving it separately," an ISRO official said.

 

[kseeker]

Life on Mars? We will seek to reveal: ISRO

India's upcoming Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) seeks to reveal whether there is methane, considered a "precursor chemical" for life, on the Red Planet, key officials behind the ambitious venture said today.

A Methane Sensor, one of the five payloads (scientific instruments) onboard the spacecraft, would look to detect the presence of the gas, MOM Project Director Arunan S said.

He said the sensor was aimed at understanding whether life existed on Mars or if it would have life in future.

"Methane is fundamentally base for life on any planet," he said.

M Annadurai, Programme Director, IRS & SSS (Indian Remote Sensing & Small, Science and Student Satellites), said: "Most probably we will be able to answer whether there is presence of Methane. If it's there, yes; if it's not, not there. If it's available, where it's available".

After a media preview of the Mars orbiter at ISRO Satellite Centre here, where it is being given final shape, officials of the space agency indicated that the aim is to launch the mission on October 21, weather permitting.

The launch window is from October 21 to November 19.

MOM is a Rs 450 crore mission — Rs 110 crore for building PSLV-C25 that would launch the Rs 150 crore spacecraft, with the remaining amount spent on augmenting ground segment, including those required for deep space communication.

Once launched from the spaceport of Sriharikota, the spacecraft would go around the earth for 20-25 days before embarking on a 9-month voyage to Mars. The minimum life of the spacecraft around Mars is six months but it would certainly outlive it, as similar satellites orbited by other countries have sometimes lasted six-seven years, Arunan said.

Life on Mars? We will seek to reveal: ISRO | idrw.org

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Why should we waste Indian money on Mars mission ? At least for next couple of centuries or more, moving to Mars will be a dream only aspect !

What we would gain just simply identifying life or methane on Mars except fame ? Does this mission serve any productive purpose at all ?

Instead of Moon, Mars, ISRO should concentrate on placing more satellites in the orbit, which would help Indian civilians and defense forces.

 

[pmaitra]

Re: Life on Mars? We will seek to reveal: ISRO

The launch window is from October 21, 20__ to November 19, 20__.

Could someone please fill up the blanks?

I have edited part of the quote, and that is in blue.

 

[drkrn]

Indias orbiter for mars

India has built the orbiter for the country's maiden Mars mission in October-November, to take off from the spaceport at Sriharikota off the Bay of Bengal, an official said Wednesday.

"The Mars orbiter is in the final stages of testing for launch between Oct 21 and Nov 19 on board a rocket with five scientific instruments to conduct various experiments after a nine-month voyage to the red planet," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) satellite centre director S.K. Shivkumar told reporters here.

As the fourth planet from sun, Mars is the second-smallest celestial body in the solar system, at a whopping distance of 400 million km (250 million miles) from earth. Named after the Roman god of war, it is also known as red planet due to the presence of iron oxide in abundance, giving it a reddish appearance.

The Mars mission will cost the government Rs.450 crore (Rs.4.5 billion), including Rs.150 crore for the spacecraft, Rs.110 crore for the rocket and Rs.190 crore to augment ground stations for operations, including navigation and communications.

"The spacecraft has been built in a record 12 months to orbit elliptically around Mars for six months at a distance of 375 km from its surface when closer, and 80,000 km when away," Mars orbiter mission project director S. Arunan said.

The 1,340 kg spacecraft (at lift-off) will be shipped to the spaceport Sep 27 for integrating it with the 350-tonne rocket, which is an extended version of the space agency's workhorse, the polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV-XL).

"The launch date will depend on weather conditions and other parameters during the month-long window we have," Arunan said.

The orbiter will be in the earth's orbit for 25 days after launch and fired the next day, to set off on a nine-month voyage to reach Martian orbit by Sep 21, 2014.

"The spacecraft will be inserted in the earth's orbit at 248 km and pushed up to 23,000 km over 25 days to set off on a long voyage to enter the Marsian orbit after next nine months next year," Arunan pointed out.

The five instruments on board the orbiter are the layman alpha photometer, methane sensor, max exospheric neutral composition analyser, colour camera and thermal infrared imaging spectrometer.

"All the instruments are indigenous and have been built at our centres in Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Thiruvananthapuram. The colour camera will take pictures of earth and moon when passing over the lunar planet on the way, and finally of Mars from its orbit," the space agency's programme director M. Annadurai said.

India's tryst with the red planet comes five years after its maiden moon mission (Chandrayaan-1) in October 2008, which discovered water beneath lunar soil through one of its 11 instruments.

"Though a couple of nations like the US and Russia had launched missions to Mars, the primary objective of our mission is to demonstrate the country's technological capability to send an orbiter to the red planet and study its environment to find out minerals present there and how the atmosphere behaves," Shivkumar asserted.

India’s Orbiter For Mars Mission Coming Soon

PROVING SUCH A TECHNOLOGICAL CAPABILITY IS A MATTER OF PRIDE FOR MY PEOPLE

@mods please move to appropriate section if its the wrong one

 

[kseeker]

Re: Life on Mars? We will seek to reveal: ISRO

Could someone please fill up the blanks?

I have edited part of the quote, and that is in blue.

The launch window is from October 21, 2013 to November 19, 2013.

Mangalyaan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[The Messiah]

Re: Life on Mars? We will seek to reveal: ISRO

Dont be idiotic, money spent on science should be more.

Only through science one can move ahead.

 

[kseeker]

Re: Life on Mars? We will seek to reveal: ISRO

Dont be idiotic, money spent on science should be more.

Only through science one can move ahead.

We should spend money only if we have surplus amount. What's the rationale behind sending Mars probe ? Does that even worth a penny to Indian citizens?

BTW...

India's Mars mission: Mangalyaan to begin its 10-month journey on October 28 | NDTV.com

 

[arnabmit]

Re: Life on Mars? We will seek to reveal: ISRO

Nasa finding throws wet blanket on Isro’s ambitions | idrw.org

Nasa's Mars rover, Curiosity, coming up empty-handed in its search for methane in the planet's atmosphere, is likely to throw a wet blanket on India's forthcoming mission to the Red Planet.

The revelation is likely to affect Indian Space Research Organisation's (Isro's) Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), as one of the primary objective of the Rs450 crore venture is to detect the presence of methane, a gas that on Earth is a strong indicator of life, in the Martian atmosphere. A methane sensor for Mars (MSM) is among the five scientific instruments onboard the MOM spacecraft.

Curiosity landed on Mars in August 2012 to determine whether the planted, which is the closest to Earth in the solar system in terms of its atmospheric conditions, has or ever had the chemistry and conditions to support microbial life.

According to Nasa, the roving laboratory performed extensive tests to search for traces of Martian methane. The rover analysed Martian atmospheric samples for methane six times from October 2012 to June this year, but in vain.

Data retrieved from Curiosity pointing to the inexistence of methane in the Martian atmosphere, has given rise to concerns about the fate of Isro's MOM, which is scheduled to be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota between October 21 and November 19.

Isro's scientists involved in the MOM project could not be reached for comments on the development. However, Nasa's lead scientist for Mars exploration, Michael Meyer, declined to accept that it is the end of the road for Mars-bound missions.

"This important result will help direct our efforts to examine the possibility of life on Mars. It reduces the probability of current methane-producing Martian microbes, but this addresses only one type of microbial metabolism. As we know, there are many types of terrestrial microbes that don't generate methane," Meyer is quoted in a Nasa press release.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Re: Life on Mars? We will seek to reveal: ISRO

India’s Mangalyaan Mission To Head To Mars In November 2013 | Asian Scientist Magazine | Science, Technology and Medicine News Updates From Asia

India is all set for its maiden November 2013 launch, said Professor U. R. Rao of the Physical Research Laboratory.

"The unmanned mission, which will explore the existence of life and the possibility of sustaining life on Mars, will travel 299 days in space before reaching the Red Planet in September 2014," he said.

 

[happy]

Mars spacecraft shipped out of Bangalore for mission

India's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft was shipped out of the city on Wednesday for the October 28 launch from the Sriharikota spaceport, setting the stage for final preparations for the odyssey to the red planet.

"It was put in a special container where we have the monitoring of the environment inside", an official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told PTI.

Accompanied by a convoy, the truck-trailer carrying the container is slated to reach Sriharikota today afternoon. Gandhi Jayanti day was chosen for the journey as traffic would be less.

A national committee of experts and pre-shipment review panel had earlier given their go-ahead for the Rs. 450 crore ambitious venture.

Primary objectives of the mission are to demonstrate India's technological capability to send a satellite to orbit around Mars and conduct meaningful experiments such as looking for signs of life, take pictures of the red planet and study Martian environment.

Bangalore-based ISRO said the Rs. 150-crore spacecraft would be launched on October 28 at 16 hours, 14 minutes and 45 seconds (4.15 pm), weather permitting.

Launch campaign has already commenced at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, about 90 km from Chennai, from where the 1,350-kg MOM spacecraft is slated to be launched by the Rs. 110 crore Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C25).

The first stage of the PSLV-C25 with strap-ons has already been assembled, with the rocket ready for satellite integration by October 10.

The satellite will carry compact science experiment instruments, totalling a mass of 15 kg. There will be five instruments to study Martian surface, atmosphere and mineralogy.

After leaving the earth's orbit, the spacecraft will cruise in deep space for about ten months using its own propulsion system and will reach Martian transfer trajectory in September 2014. The spacecraft subsequently is planned to enter into a 372 km by 80,000 km elliptical orbit around Mars.

The main theme of MOM appears to be to seek to reveal whether there is methane, considered a "precursor chemical" for life, on the red planet. Methane sensor, one of the five payloads (scientific instruments) on board the spacecraft, would look to detect the presence of Methane.

Mars spacecraft shipped out of Bangalore for mission | NDTV.com

 

[Sridhar]

Spacecraft Integration

Spacecraft Movement for Testing

Spacecraft Testing - View 1

Spacecraft Testing - View 2

Spacecraft Testing - View 3

Spacecraft Testing - View 4

 

[Sridhar]

Re: Mars spacecraft shipped out of Bangalore for mission

Loading Spacecraft for Thermovacuum Test in Large Space Simulation Chamber

Spacecraft Antenna undergoing test at Comprehensive Antenna Test Facility

Spacecraft undergoing Acoustic test at ISITE ISAC Bangalore

 

[Sridhar]

Re: Mars spacecraft shipped out of Bangalore for mission

Spacecraft undergoing EMI/EMC test at ISITE ISAC Bangalore

Spacecraft being prepared for Vibration test at ISITE ISAC Bangalore

Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft being prepared for a prelaunch test at Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Srihairkota

 

[Sridhar]

Re: Mars spacecraft shipped out of Bangalore for mission

Spacecraft being Flagged Off by Director ISAC from ISITE ISAC Bangalore

Spacecraft leaving for SHAR Sriharikota from ISITE ISAC Bangalore

Spacecraft being received at SDSC SHAR Sriharikota

Spacecraft being unloaded at Clean Room at SDSC SHAR Sriharikota

Spacecraft at Cleanroom at SDSC SHAR Sriharikota

 

[Sridhar]

Re: Mars spacecraft shipped out of Bangalore for mission

PSLV-C25 after the integration of all its four stages at Moible Service Tower

PSLV-C25 third and fourth stages being placed on top of the second stage at the Moible Service Tower

Hoisting of the third and fourth stages of PSLV-C25 during vehicle integration

PSLV-C25 fourth stage being hoisted during its integration with the third stage