India’s low-cost Mars mission enters last lap as spacecraft prepares to enter orbit
India's deep space mission enters crucial stage as spacecraft prepares to enter the orbit of the red planet with crucial adjustments remaining to be made
India’s first mission to Mars will attempt to put a spacecraft into orbit around the red planet next week, in a crucial test of a low-cost project carrying the country’s hopes to join the world leaders of the space race.
A successful outcome for the US$74 million mission would stiffen Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s resolve to build new space launch facilities capable of handling heavier satellites, making India a stronger player in the space technology market.
Launched last November, the Mars Orbiter Mission, called Mangalyaan, aims to study the planet’s surface and mineral composition, and scan its atmosphere for methane, a chemical strongly tied to life on Earth.
“Confidence is high. All the operations done so far are successful and all the parameters measured are normal.”
If the spacecraft does manage to enter orbit around Mars on September 24, India would become the first country to succeed on its first try. European, US and Russian probes have managed to orbit or land on the planet, but only after several attempts.
“Confidence is high,” V Koteswara Rao, scientific secretary at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told reporters. “All the operations done so far are successful and all the parameters measured are normal.”
The ISRO has already uploaded commands to help the spacecraft automatically enter orbit on the morning of September 24.
Two days before that, scientists will run a four-second test of a main engine that has been idle for about 300 days, and make a small course correction, Rao said.
However, experts say it will be challenging to get the trajectory right and cut the craft’s speed from its current rate of 22km per second to allow it to enter orbit. The task of receiving the faint signals emitted by the craft would also be affected.