Bangalore: The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Mars mission is in the final lap. The elated scientists at the ISRO say the Mars orbiter launched in November 2013, is all set for its date to actually reach the red planet on September 24.
It was one of India's proud moments, as ISRO's PSLV rocket launched off from Sriharikota in November 2013. The rocket was carrying India's ambitious Mars Orbiter Mission, or MOM, the spacecraft that is set to orbit around Mars for the next six months.
The craft was India's first attempt at inter planetary exploration and it is expected to reach its destination next week. On September 24, the orbiter will finally be guided to reach the Martian sphere of influence.
V Koteshwara Rao, scientific secretary, ISRO, said, "Up to 90 per cent of the journey to Mars has been covered. Next, we will start at reducing the speed of the Marscraft in due preparation to put it in Mars orbit."
As the team gears up, there are some worries too. During its journey over the last ten months, the craft has given scientists anxious moments when signals weren't getting transmitted for a short period last year. Now too, an engine that has not been used until now will be fired up to insert the spacecraft into its position around Mars. After that, instruments that it is carrying on board will be activated to take up experiments.
Dr Mailsamy Annadurai, programme director at the ISRO, said, "It will take 24 hours for us to get the first data."
On board the craft are instruments that can take photographs of the Martian surface, that take up heat and other atmospheric studies, and check for the presence of methane that in turn gives us a clue on whether Mars has ever hosted any living organisms, even thousands of years ago. Coincidentally, the NASA too last year launched a Mars orbiter MAVEN that will reach its Martian orbit about two days before India.
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