ISRO's Oct 28 Mars mission on schedule

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has indicated that the country’s October 28 Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) will be on schedule.

ISRO has dismissed suggestions that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) may not be in a position to offer it deep space network support following the government shutdown in the US following the disagreement between the Democrats and Republicans.

“There will be no delay in the Mars mission. We are going ahead with the MOM as scheduled,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) spokesman Deviprasad Karnik  told Business Standard at the weekend.

India is planning to launch its MOM spacecraft on October 28, the first day of the launch window which remains open till November 19. After its launch, MOM will revolve around the earth for 20-25 days before embarking on a nine-month voyage to the red planet. According to ISRO official said: “We don’t need NASA DSN support during initial days after the launch as small antennas can track but when it moves further and further away from earth, we need such a support.”

There has been no communication from NASA to ISRO saying that it would not support the Indian mission, sources said. Meanwhile, the ISRO is drawing comfort from the fact that NASA has announced that it would go ahead with its own MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission, slated for launch as early as November 18.

This means NASA would have to keep its DSN - an international network of antennas that track interplanetary spacecraft missions - operational.