Mars Mission: supplementary orbit raising manoeuvre successful

Apogee raised to desired target of 1,18,642 km

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) on Tuesday successfully completed the supplementary orbit raising manoeuvre of the Mars Orbiter Spacecraft.

On Monday, the mission had faced a minor glitch as the manoeuvre fell short of the targeted apogee due to a problem in the fuel flow to the engine. Isro had hence planned the supplementary orbit-raising operation today morning.

"Fourth supplementary orbit raising manoeuvre of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, starting at 05:03:50 hrs(IST) on November 12, 2013, with a burn time of 303.8 seconds has been successfully completed. The observed change in apogee is from 78,276 km to 1,18,642 km. Velocity added is 124.9 m/s,” said Isro officials.

On Monday, the apogee could only be raised from 71,623 km to 78,276 km against the original plan to raise it to about 100,000 km due to the glitch.

Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan had, however, downplayed the concerns and said that there was  enough cushion  available to address the additional fuel requirement, since the Mars Orbiter spacecraft was placed very precisely on to an elliptical orbit around the Earth after the launch on November 5.