This story is from September 24, 2014

Date with Mars today; India is on cusp of history

After a 300-day flight and covering a distance of 680-million km after its launch on Nov 5, 2013, the MOM, if all goes well, will enter the Martian orbit at 7.18am.
Date with Mars today; India is on cusp of history
MUMBAI: The red-letter day for India has arrived. The much-awaited announcement whether India’s date with Mars, about 215-million km away, is successful or not will be made around 8.15am on Wednesday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and scientists at the Mars mission command and control centre in Bangalore.
After a 300-day flight and covering a distance of 680-million km after its launch on Nov 5, 2013, the Rs 450-crore Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), if all goes well, will enter the Martian orbit at 7.18am.

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In the control room, scientists will be glued to their computers and big screens, waiting for confirmation that India has made it to Mars. If the rendezvous goes off without a hitch, India will be the fourth nation to get into the exclusive Martian club. The other three are the US, Russia and European Space Agency. India will be the first Asian country to have reached Mars orbit.
The nerve-wracking Mars orbit insertion will kick off at 4.17am on Wednesday — three hours before the manoeuvre — when the spacecraft will switch over to the medium gain antenna which will provide the communication link during the insertion. At 6.56am, the spacecraft will initiate the process of forward rotation or turnaround, reducing its speed. The critical moment bringing the Mars team to the edge of their seats will be at 7.18am when the liquid apogee motor has to reawaken. The motor was woken up for four seconds on September 22 during a test run after 300 days of slumber.


The liquid motor will fire for 24 minutes, reducing the velocity of the spacecraft to by 4.2km per second in relation to Mars. This will be a phase of suspense because the spacecraft would be behind Mars during most of the firing, disabling communication. Scientists would wait for good news soon that the liquid apogee motor has responded to the commands uploaded last week and woken up. At 7.47am, communication with the spacecraft will resume and data will flash about the performance of the liquid apogee motor.


The firing, that will consume 249.5kg of fuel, will put the spacecraft in a 423kmx80,000km orbit. This is Plan A. If this does not work, then the eight 22N thrusters will be fired for a longer duration. If the spacecraft has entered the Mars orbit through either Plan A or Plan B, it will be a moment of celebration.
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Scientists at Isro Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (Istrac) in Peenya, Bangalore, will have to wait for a confirmation call from their Australian counterparts tracking MOM from Canberra. The call is expected at 8.10am through a hotline.

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