Mars Mission set to leave Earth's orbit

The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) is set to leave Earth's orbit at 12:49 am on Sunday. The crucial slingshot (into Sun's orbit), code-named Trans-Mars Injection, is one of the two events Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) feels is vital for the mission, launched on November 5.

"To be thrown out of Earth's orbit, towards Mars, with the right velocity, in the right direction and at the right time---that's MOM's escape challenge," Isro said.

"While MOM leaves Earth's cradle, we need to rely on Sun's gravity and the laws of the universe to deliver it to Mars at the right epoch. 'Attitude and orbit control thrusters' and the liquid engine on board will be used for keeping MOM on course. This is Isro's first experience of hurling a spacecraft beyond Earth's sphere of influence," it added.

For India, the Trans-Mars injection is set to herald a new era of interplanetary missions. Most past missions by global agencies have failed in this. In 2011, a mission by China failed to leave Earth's orbit.

On November 5, MOM was put into an orbit of 247 km by 23,567 km around Earth by PSLV-C25. During the past 25 days, MOM has progressively increased its orbit around Earth.

In the last two weeks, the spacecraft was moved to a higher apogee of about 200,000 km, through six maneuvers.

It is expected MOM will reach Mars on September 24, 2014, after traversing 400 million km. After reaching Mars' orbit, the five payloads deployed in the spacecraft would start working to collect information.

The Rs 450-crore mission, the lowest in the history of global missions to Mars, was initiated in 2010. While Rs 110 crore was spent on building PSLV-C25, the cost of the spacecraft was Rs 150 crore. Other expenses involved augmenting ground facilities, including those required for deep space communication.