India’s Mars Mission Satellite Integrated With Rocket, Launch Date Revised
India’s Mars Mission Satellite Integration with Rocket, Launch Date Revised
Chennai: The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) completed integration of its Mars mission satellite on Sunday with the rocket while the heat shield is expected to be closed in couple of days, an official said.
“The 1,340 kg satellite was mated with the rocket today (Sunday). The heat shield will be closed in two or three days after tests. Everything is progressing normally on the rocket and the satellite side,” an Isro official, who did not want to be identified, told IANS.
India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft being prepared for a prelaunch test at Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Srihairkota. Credit: ISRO
On Saturday Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan told IANS that the Rs 450 crore Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) will be delayed by a week as out of of the two ships — Nalanda and Yamuna — carrying rocket tracking systems, only the latter has reached Fiji.
Graphic outlines India’s first ever probe to explore the Red Planet known as the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM). It could liftoff as early as Oct. 28 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Srihairkota, India. Credit: ISRO
The Nalanda is expected to reach there October 21. From there, both the ships have to travel to their respective locations to track the rocket, Isro officials told IANS.
The ships have terminals to track the rocket, which has a coasting period of around 20 minutes beyond the visibility of existing ground stations.
India Mars Probe Mangalyaan
The Mangalyaan mission was originally slated for October 28 from Isro’s rocket launch centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, around 80km from here.
Radhakrishnan said as the launch window is between October 28 to November 19, the revised launch date will be decided October 22 after the ship reaches Fiji. The launch window is between October 28 to November 19, the revised launch date will be decided on October 22.
The upcoming Nov. 18 blastoff of NASA’s new MAVEN Mars orbiter was threatened by the US Federal Government shutdown when all launch processing work ceased on Oct. 1. Spacecraft preps had now resumed on Oct. 3 after receiving an emergency exemption. MAVEN was unveiled to the media, including Universe Today, inside the cleanroom at the Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 27, 2013. With solar panels unfurled, this is exactly how MAVEN looks when flying through space. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
Incidentally October 22 is seems to be a special date for Isro. It is a Tuesday and in Tamil, Mars planet is called Sevvai Graham and Tuesday is also called Sevvai. In Hindi, Mars is called Mangal and Tuesday is Mangalwar.
India’s first inter-planetary mission was to the Moon October 22, 2008 at an outlay of around Rs 390 crore.
Read more about The Mangalyaan – India’s Journey to Mars
