Indian Martian exploration program

[Indx TechStyle]

Khodad radio telescope catches signals from Europe's mission to Mars

 

[Indx TechStyle]

ISRO seeks proposals for Mars Orbiter Mission-2

NEW DELHI: To expand inter-planetary research, ISRO is seeking scientific proposals for Mars Orbiter Mission-2, the government today said.

In a written response to a question in Rajya Sabha, Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office that looks after the Department of Space, said the configuration, objectives and scientific experiments of MoM-2 is yet to be formulated.

"A call for proposals through an Announcement of Opportunity (AO) has been made within India to seek proposal for scientific experiments for Mars Orbiters Mission-2," Singh said.

He said MoM-1 has completed 25 months in orbit and is presently functioning satisfactorily.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Juventae Fons and Baetis Chasma - Terrains on planet Mars

This MCC picture was taken on Oct. 16, 2016 from an altitude of 1015 km with a resolution of 51 m. This RGB image has been color corrected and enhanced for better visual appeal.

This spectacular terrain at the bottom of the image is known as Juventae Fons. Another terrain seen at the top left corner is known as Baetis Chasma.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

In a first, all-Indian crew set to experience Mars

 

[Indx TechStyle]

ISRO realignes orbit of iconic Mangalyaan, Here’s why

The Indian space agency ISRO has successfully realigned the orbit of the iconic Mangalyaan mission, in order to prevent the communication break in long-duration eclipse, ISRO Chairman A S Kiran Kumar said on Tuesday.

Scientists at ISRO had already announced about the realignment back in August. “The duration of the eclipse was so long that had we done nothing, the Mangalyaan’s battery capacity would have got exhausted due to lack of sun rays. No effect of the eclipse was felt on Mangalyaan yesterday.”

“On the evening of January 17, we manoeuvred to change the orbit of Mangalyaan and reduced the duration of eclipse,” said Kumar while addressing the crowd at the 6th convocation of Gujarat Technological University.

Kumar further added that the spacecraft is working so efficiently that it is still left with 30 kg of fuel which is enough to last for years. The spacecraft has burned around 7 kg of fuel in last one year which is exceptional and has exceeded everyone’s expectation.

ISRO chief also revealed about the future experiment works on second lunar mission — Chadrayaan II scheduled for 2018. Scientists are currently testing soft landing engines at Mahendragiri and a place in Karnataka by simulating lunar surface.

While talking of Mars Orbiter, it is one of the greatest tasks of Indian Space Research Organization that was initiated two years back, on 24th September 2014. The satellite was ultimately intended to examine Mars from various angles and send information and photographs of the Planet to ISRO. While the outlining of the rocket was made for six months as far as its onboard fuel, surprisingly, the satellite is working and sending information from the space since two years.

Mars Orbit is an egg-shaped orbit spaceship with an elevated apoapsis where, with its high-resolution camera, it is capable of capturing full-disk color images of Mars. In context to the red planet Mars, a very less amount of picture has been clicked as most photos look straight down in mapping mode. But with the introduction of Mangalyaan, ISRO has become able to get several helpful pictures of the Red Planet, which gave the world practical information about the planet.

But surprisingly, the Mangalyaan mission doesn’t ruin much cash of India as its costs only $73 million (Rs.450 crores in India currency), and this is the cheaper expenses than an eight-lane bridge located in Mumbai in which Indian government invested $340 million.

If you go little more way in terms of the costs, the cost of Mars orbit Mission is also lower than the budget of film “Gravity” which ruined about $105 million. On this context, Mars Orbit Mission is no doubt is a cost-effective and reasonable project of ISRO. Apart from this, Mars Orbit satellite is also distinguished as one of the thinnest and lightweight missile that has implemented since today. It weighs only 1,350-kg which is less than an SUV’s weight.

Due to its efficient performance and excellent information collecting capacity, Mars Orbit Mission has not only helped India to acquire useful information about Mars but also has assisted National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to complete many space research programs.

The team of Mars Orbiter Mission due to their efficiency in the exploratory skill of Mars bagged 2015 Space Pioneer Award from US-based National Space Society in the science and engineering category. National Space Society (NSS) while awarding this crown to the Mars Orbit Mission Team said that – this prestigious prize was given to the Indian agency for successfully executing a Mars mission in its very first effort.

In two years, the satellite has done several important jobs and sent some of the most valuable data from Mars. And the most remarkable data accumulated by Mars Orbiter incorporates the recognizable proof of watery exercises among the old Martian atmosphere, and the most profound comprehension of Mar’s ice spread changes amid summer on the Northern Hemisphere. The orbiter also evaluated the layers of dust on Martian valleys and slopes that can reach up to 1.5 kilometers Mars Orbiter which is otherwise known as MOM also helped NASA in scrutinizing and the perception of two Martian satellites like Phobos and Deimos.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Long Eclipse Avoidance Manoeuvres Performed Successfully on MOM Spacecraft

An orbital manoeuvres was performed on Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft to avoid the impending long eclipse duration for the satellite. The duration of the eclipse would have been as long as 8 hours in the coming days. As the satellite battery is designed to handle an eclipse duration of only about 1 Hour 40 minutes, a longer eclipse would have drained the battery beyond the safe limit. The manoeuvres performed on January 17, 2017 brought down the eclipse duration to zero during this long eclipse period.

On the Evening of January 17, all the eight numbers of 22N thrusters were fired for a duration of 431 seconds, achieving a velocity difference of 97.5 m/s. This has resulted in a new orbit for the MOM spacecraft, which completely avoids eclipse up to September 2017. About 20 kg propellant was consumed for this manoeuvres leaving another 13 kg of propellant for its further mission life.

The spacecraft health is normal. The next long eclipse period for MOM is expected in the year 2020.

Eclipse Avoidance Manoeuvres on MOM Spacecraft
Story of the Week - Archive
Jan 23, 2017 : Long Eclipse Avoidance Manoeuvres Performed Successfully on MOM Spacecraft
Jan 16, 2017 : High Altitude Flight Acceptance Test of CE20 Engine Conducted Successfully
Jan 09, 2017 : Discovery of a hot companion associated with a Blue Straggler in NGC-188 using AstroSat UVIT data
Jan 02, 2017 : Golden Jubilee of Composite Materials Activities at ISRO
Dec 26, 2016 : Indigenous Development of 4.5 ton Vertical Planetary Mixer
Dec 19, 2016 : First National Finite Element Developers/FEASTSMT Users’ Meet at VSSC
Dec 05, 2016 : National Rollout of GeoMGNREGA held at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi

• 1 of 13
  
• next ›

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Three linked Craters of Mars

This image covers about 55 km x 55 km area with 28 m per pixel resolution in Margaritifer quadrangle of Mars. This image portrays the envelope of three linked craters outer rims.

This MCC picture was taken on December 26, 2016 from an altitude of 534 km. This RGB image has been color enhanced for better visual appeal

 

[aliyah]

when are we going back and will it have any UAE satellite????

 

[Indx TechStyle]

when are we going back

2018-2020

and will it have any UAE satellite????

They have not decided yet that which rocket they will use.

 

[Kshatriya87]

when are we going back and will it have any UAE satellite????

We must have a rover this time. Or else no need to go back if we are just surveying from skies.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

We must have a rover this time. Or else no need to go back if we are just surveying from skies.

No, most likely, we are sending a heavier orbiter with better equipment from GSLV Mk3.
Rover will follow next time. I will call it sane,

1. Mangalyaan was actually a TD because we couldn't send all equipments due to weight problem, we didn't have required capacity at that time. Today, we got our own third generation launch vehicle (GSLV Mk3).
2. Launching a rover with orbiter again on GSLV Mk3 will suffer weight limitation and low equipments & payloads. Instead, India's fourth generation launcher HLV has entered second phase of development. So, instead of 10 tonnes cap. GSLV 3, we must be using 20 tonnes cap. HLV.
3. Third important point, landing on Mars is completely different job against that on Moon. In case of Moon, you can enclose your rover inside a capsule like lander which lands straight on Moon (with gravity sensors) and rover comes out. But in case of Mars, you have to face atmosphere for which you need heat shield, and then, gravity is high, so have to use retro thrusters for landing like Curiousity rover. This needs extensive testing & will easily take 3-4 years.
4. The most important point, we don't even have complete data of Martian atmosphere & surface, how will we develop heat shields, map, landing system & land on this? Let's send a better orbiter & land on it first.

 

[Kshatriya87]

No, most likely, we are sending a heavier orbiter with better equipment from GSLV Mk3.
Rover will follow next time. I will call it sane,

1. Mangalyaan was actually a TD because we couldn't send all equipments due to weight problem, we didn't have required capacity at that time. Today, we got our own third generation launch vehicle (GSLV Mk3).
2. Launching a rover with orbiter again on GSLV Mk3 will suffer weight limitation and low equipments & payloads. Instead, India's fourth generation launcher HLV has entered second phase of development. So, instead of 10 tonnes cap. GSLV 3, we must be using 20 tonnes cap. HLV.
3. Third important point, landing on Mars is completely different job against that on Moon. In case of Moon, you can enclose your rover inside a capsule like lander which lands straight on Moon (with gravity sensors) and rover comes out. But in case of Mars, you have to face atmosphere for which you need heat shield, and then, gravity is high, so have to use retro thrusters for landing like Curiousity rover. This needs extensive testing & will easily take 3-4 years.
4. The most important point, we don't even have complete data of Martian atmosphere & surface, how will we develop heat shields, map, landing system & land on this? Let's send a better orbiter & land on it first.

We can ask for atmospheric data from NASA?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Indx TechStyle]

We can ask for atmospheric data from NASA?

Nobody leaks complete data & nothing for free.

If NASA shared MAVEN information with us in past, because we gave them data from Mangalyaan. Still, they'll give only a fraction of data.

Data is not our real problem, our problem is required time to test landing systems on Mars which are completely.different from moon.

Plus, what's advantage of your probes if you need data from someone else?

 

[Kshatriya87]

Plus, what's advantage of your probes if you need data from someone else?

To get new data which wasn't discovered before. Like proof of water on moon, solving of constellation mystery which ISRO did.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Indx TechStyle]

To get new data which wasn't discovered before. Like proof of water on moon, solving of constellation mystery which ISRO did.

Let's change the legacy.
Doing everything on own boosts morales.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Observation of Suprathermal Argon in Mars Exosphere

 

[Indx TechStyle]

ISRO released MOM Second year science data

On the occasion of three year completion of Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) in its Martian orbit on Sept 24, 2017, ISRO released MOM Second year science data from Sep 24, 2014 to Sep 3, 2016 to public.

For more details visit https://mrbrowse.issdc.gov.in/MOMLTA
On this occasion ISRO conducted a Science Meet.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Global Shot of Mars taken by MOM

This image covers Mars Disc in a Perspective/Ortho view with 3.5 km per pixel resolution and obtained after the blackout period experienced by MOM. Olympus mons, and three volcano systems Arsia mons, Pavonis mons, Ascraeus mons opposite to Olympus mons system are seen prominently in this shot.

This is the latest picture by MCC on Oct 08, 2017 from an altitude of 70,157 km. This RGB image has been color corrected for better visual appeal.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Latest image of Mars taken by MCC

The image shows part of the Mars disc with a spatial resolution of 2.2 km. The major volcanic summits in the Tharsis region like Olympus mons, Arsia mons, Pavonis mons & Ascraeus mons are clearly visible in the image.

Mars is in 85 degree solar longitude (Ls) and as expected during this season , the cloud formation (arrow) is seen around Ascraeus mons.

This MCC image was taken on Nov 9, 2017 from an altitude of 42,433 km and it has been color corrected.

 

[mayfair]

How is Mangalyaan still up and running? Shouldn't it be out of fuel by now? I thought it's operational life was supposed to be no more than 6-12 months.