5 OCTOBER: India’s first successful Mars mission Mangalyaan completed its glorious journey after 8 years. The designed mission life was originally 6 months but the mission lasted for better and longer duration of 8 years. The Indian Space Research Organization, ISRO reported that the satellite battery has drained and there is no fuel left due to the long eclipse. The satellite battery was designed to handle an eclipse of only 100 minutes. To bid a warm farewell, let us look closely at the mission which added to India’s one of the greatest scientific achievements ever. It was the first mission that added India to the list of countries entering the Martian orbit. The mission funding shocked the world as India sent its first Martian mission in the most affordable budget of Rs. 450 crores which is less than the budget of a Hollywood movie. ISRO successfully launched Mangalyaan in its first attempt and India became the first Asian nation to do so.
The mission was launched onboard PSLV-C25 on 05 November 2013. It took 298 days of transit and entered the Martian orbit on 24 September 2014. The objective of MOM was to explore the Martian surface, mineralogy (the scientific study of minerals), and morphology (study of external forms and structures of organisms). It used the remote sensing technique to study the Martian atmosphere. It also examined the Martian moon, Phobos. MOM completed all its planned missions within the first year of being in orbit and continued to provide other additional important information over the years. Some of the information contained 2 Terabytes of imaging data, observation of Solar Corona in May, and June 2015, and much more.
The historic mission which made India the first nation in the world to enter Mars orbit in the first attempt will inspire many young minds of our country to contribute their bid in the scientific community.
~Vishalika Sharma