Mars Mission: Isro successfully completes first midnight manoeuver

The midnight missions will help the orbiter attain required escape velocity to leave Earth

ISRO successfully crossed its first milestone by completing the midnight manoeuver of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft early morning today.

 

ISRO officials said that the first orbit raising manoeuver of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, starting at 01:17 hrs on November 7, 2013, has been successfully completed. 

The milestone was achieved on renowned Indian physicist C V Raman's birthday.

 

The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), which was launched on November 5, was parked at an orbit of around 250 by 23,500 km. 

ISRO officials said there would be five firings of the 440 Newton engine, which is on board the Mars Orbiter PSLVC25, to gradually increase its apogee (point furthest away from Earth). The first firing took place early morning today.

The orbiter has to acquire the required escape velocity to leave Earth, and this will be done by gradually firing the 440 Newton liquid engine during its one month around Earth. In the sixth firing, it will escape from Earth's gravity.

 

This is planned in a series of midnight manoeuvers (a.k.a Earth Bound Manoeuvers) in which MOM’s engine will be fired in a direction tangential to Earth while MOM is at its closest orbital position to Earth. 

 

The six ellipses represent the various orbits of the spacecraft around Earth and the outward trajectory represents the Trans-Mars Injection Manoeuver. The fire thrusters of the orbiter to increase its elliptical distance around Earth were scheduled on November 7,8,9,11 and 16.

 

Thereafter, MOM will mainly be under the influence of Sun's gravity. MOM will have a rendezvous with Mars in September, 2014, said the officials.

 

“Ever day and every thing is crucial in this mission,” said ISRO's spokesperson.

 

The Focus shifts to ISTRAC!

 

With ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission Spacecraft already placed in its parking orbit, the action has shifted to ISRO's Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore. 

 

ISTRAC is a collection of several state-of-the-art ground based stations including the 18 m and 32 m Antennas of Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN), the Indian Space Science Data Centre (ISSDC) and the Mission Control Centre (MCC). 

 

ISTRAC will be employed for Monitoring, Commanding, Navigating and Controlling the spacecraft throughout the Mission.

 

Between November 7 and December 1, ISTRAC would progressively stretch one end of the ellipse (at the apogee or farthest point from Earth) in six moves, called orbit raising manoeuvers.

 

The crucial day will be on December 1, 2013 at 12.42 am, when the spacecraft would start its long and difficult voyage towards Mars for almost 300 days, under the influence of Sun. The Orbiter is expected to reach Mars on September 24, 2014.