India’s first mission to Mars was the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM). The MOM, also known as Mangalyaan, was launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on November 5, 2013. The spacecraft entered Mars’ orbit on September 23, 2014, making ISRO only the fourth space agency in the world to do so
The MOM’s goals were to:
- Test technologies for interplanetary exploration
- Study the Martian surface and atmosphere
- Understand the evolution of the universe
The MOM’s five science instruments included a methane sensor to measure:
- Spatial variations in CO2 column density and pressure
- Reflectance of the Martian surface
- The presence of methane, which may indicate life
The MOM also observed Comet Siding Spring when it flew by Mars at a distance of 132,000 km on October 19, 2014.
ISRO is preparing for India’s second mission to Mars, MODEX. MODEX will help understand the origin, abundance, distribution, and flux at high altitudes on Mars.
The mission was originally designed to last six months, but it completed its seven-year orbit on September 24, 2021. The mission’s trajectory was about half an ellipse around the sun, eventually intersecting Mars’ orbit when Mars was also in that orbit. This trajectory was possible when the relative positions of the Earth, Mars, and sun formed an angle of about 44°.
The mission was also known as Mangalyaan, which means “Mars Craft” in Hindi.
The Mars Orbiter Mission probe lifted-off from the First Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (Sriharikota Range SHAR), Andhra Pradesh, using a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle(PSLV) rocket C25 at 09:08 UTC on 5 November 2013. The launch window was approximately 20 days long and started on 28 October 2013. The MOM probe spent about a month in Earth orbit, where it made a series of seven apogee-raising orbital manoeuvresbefore trans-Mars injection on 30 November 2013 (UTC). After a 298-day transit to Mars, it was put into Mars orbit on 24 September 2014.
The mission was a “technology demonstrator” project to develop the technologies for designing, planning, management, and operations of an interplanetary mission. It carried five scientific instruments.The spacecraft was monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru with support from the Indian Deep Space Network(IDSN) antennae at Bengaluru, Karnataka.
On 2 October 2022, it was reported that the orbiter had irrecoverably lost communications with Earth after entering a seven-hour eclipse period in April 2022 that it was not designed to survive. The following day, ISRO released a statement that all attempts to revive MOM had failed and officially declared it dead, citing the loss of fuel and battery power to the probe’s instruments
The total cost of the mission was approximately ₹450 Crore (US$73 million), making it the least-expensive Mars mission to date. The low cost of the mission was ascribed by ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnanto various factors, including a “modular approach”, few ground tests and long working days (18 to 20 hours) for scientists. BBC‘s Jonathan Amos specified lower worker costs, home-grown technologies, simpler design, and a significantly less complicated payload than NASA’s MAVEN.
The 15 kg (33 lb) scientific payload consists of five instruments:
- Atmospheric studies:
- Lyman-Alpha Photometer (LAP) – a photometer that measures the relative abundance of deuterium and hydrogenfrom Lyman-alpha emissions in the upper atmosphere. Measuring the deuterium/hydrogen ratio will allow an estimation of the amount of water loss to outer space. The nominal plan to operate LAP is between the ranges of approximately 3,000 km (1,900 mi) before and after Mars periapsis. Minimum observation duration for achieving LAP’s science goals is 60 minutes per orbit during normal range of operation. The objectives of this instrument are as follows:
- Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM) – was meant to measure methane in the atmosphere of Mars, if any, and map its sources with an accuracy of few 10s parts-per-billion (ppb).[58] After entering Mars orbit it was determined that the instrument, although in good working condition, had a design flaw and it was incapable of distinguishing methane on Mars. The instrument can accurately map Mars albedo at 1.65um.
- MSM Design Flaw. The MSM sensor was expected to measure methane in the Mars atmosphere; methane on Earth is often associated with life. However, after it entered orbit, it was reported that there was an issue with how it collected and processed data. The spectrometer could measure intensity of different spectral bands, [such as methane] but instead of sending back the spectra, it sent back the sum of the sampled spectra and also the gaps between the sampled lines. The difference was supposed to be the methane signal, but since other spectra such as carbon dioxide could have varying intensities, it was not possible to determine the actual methane intensity. The device was repurposed as an albedo mapper.
- Particle environment studies:
- Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA) – is a quadrupole mass analyser capable of analysing the neutral composition of particles in the range of 1–300 amu (atomic mass unit) with unit mass resolution. The heritage of this payload is from Chandra’s Altitudinal Composition Explorer (CHACE) payload aboard the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) in Chandrayaan-1mission. MENCA is planned to perform five observations per orbit with one hour per observation.
- Surface imaging studies:
- Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS) – TIS measures the thermal emission and can be operated during both day and night. It would map surface composition and mineralogy of Mars and also monitor atmospheric CO2and turbidity (required for the correction of MSM data). Temperature and emissivity are the two basic physical parameters estimated from thermal emission measurement. Many minerals and soil types have characteristic spectra in TIR region. TIS can map surface composition and mineralogy of Mars.
- Mars Colour Camera (MCC) – This tricolour camera gives images and information about the surface features and composition of Martian surface. It is useful to monitor the dynamic events and weather of Mars like dust storms/atmospheric turbidity. MCC will also be used for probing the two satellites of Mars, Phobos and Deimos. MCC would provide context information for other science payloads. MCC images are to be acquired whenever MSM and TIS data is acquired. Seven Apoareion Imaging of the entire disc and multiple Periareion images of 540 km × 540 km (340 mi × 340 mi) are planned in every orbit.
ISRO originally intended to launch MOM with its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle(GSLV), but the GSLV failed twice in 2010 and still had issues with its cryogenic engine. Waiting for the new batch of rockets would have delayed the MOM for at least three years,so ISRO opted to switch to the less-powerful Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). Since it was not powerful enough to place MOM on a direct-to-Mars trajectory, the spacecraft was launched into a highly elliptical Earth orbit and used its own thrusters over multiple perigee burns (to take advantage of the Oberth effect) to place itself on a trans-Mars trajectory
ISRO plans to develop and launch a follow-up mission called Mars Orbiter Mission 2 (MOM-2 or Mangalyaan-2) with a greater scientific payload to Mars in 2024. The orbiter will use aerobraking to reduce apoapsisof its initial orbit and reach an altitude more suitable for scientific observation(full article source google)
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