This article is about the Indian Mars probe. For other Mars orbiters, see List of missions to Mars.

Mars Orbiter Mission

Artist's rendering of the MOM orbiting Mars

Mission type Mars orbiter
Operator ISRO
COSPAR ID 2013-060A
SATCAT 39370
Website www.isro.org/mars/home.aspx
Mission duration 6 months (planned)
[1]


Spacecraft properties
Bus I-1K
[2]
Manufacturer ISAC
Launch mass 1,337 kg (2,948 lb)
[3]

Dry mass 500 kg (1,100 lb)
Payload mass 15 kg (33 lb)
[4]

Dimensions 1.5-metre (4 ft 11 in) cube
Power 840 watts
[2]


Start of mission
Launch date 5 November 2013, 09:08 UTC
[5]

Rocket PSLV-XL C25
[6]

Launch site Satish Dhawan FLP
Contractor ISRO

Orbital parameters
Reference system Areocentric
Periareon 421.7 km (262.0 mi)
[7]

Apoareon 76,993.6 km (47,841.6 mi)
[7]

Inclination 150.0
[7]

Period 72 hours 51 minutes 51 seconds
[7]

Epoch Planned

Mars orbiter
Orbital insertion 24 September 2014, 02:00 UTC
MSD 50027 06:27 AMT
[8]

The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also called Mangalyaan ("Mars-craft"
from Sanskrit mangala, "Mars" and yna, "craft, vehicle"),
[9][10]
is a spacecraft
orbiting Mars since 24 September 2014. It was launched on 5 November 2013 by the Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO).
[11][12][13][14]

The mission is a "technology demonstrator" project to develop the technologies for design, planning,
management, and operations of an interplanetary mission.
[15]
It carries five instruments that will help
advance knowledge about Mars to achieve its secondary, scientific, objective.
[16]

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 (14:38 IST) on 5 November 2013.
[17]
The launch window was approximately
20 days long and started on 28 October 2013.
[5]
The MOM probe spent about a month
ingeocentric, low-Earth orbit, where it made a series of seven altitude-raising orbital
manoeuvres before trans-Mars injection on 30 November 2013 (UTC).
[18]
After a 298-day transit to
Mars, it was successfully inserted into Mars orbit on 24 September 2014.
It is India's first interplanetary mission
[19]
and ISRO has become the fourth space agency to reach
Mars, after the Soviet space program, NASA, and the European Space Agency.
[20][21]
It is also the first
nation to reach Mars orbit on its first attempt, and the first Asian nation to do so.
[22][23][24][25]

The spacecraft is currently being monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre at ISRO Telemetry,
Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore with support from Indian Deep Space
Network (IDSN) antennae at Byalalu.
[26]

Contents
[hide]
1 History
o 1.1 Cost
2 Objectives
3 Spacecraft specifications
4 Payload
5 Telemetry and command
o 5.1 Communications
6 Mission profile
o 6.1 Launch
o 6.2 Orbit raising manoeuvres
o 6.3 Trans-Mars injection
o 6.4 Trajectory correction manoeuvres
o 6.5 Mars orbit insertion
7 Status
8 See also
9 References
10 External links
History[edit]
The MOM mission concept began with a feasibility study in 2010, after the launch of lunar
satellite Chandrayaan-1 in 2008. Thegovernment of India approved the project on 3 August
2012,
[27]
after the Indian Space Research Organisation completed 125 crore (US$20 million) of
required studies for the orbiter.
[28]
The total project cost may be up to
454 crore(US$74 million).
[11][29]
The satellite costs 153 crore (US$25 million) and the rest of the
budget has been attributed to ground stations and relay upgrades that will be used for other ISRO
projects.
[30]

The space agency had planned the launch on 28 October 2013 but was postponed to 5 November
2013 following the delay in ISRO's spacecraft tracking ships to take up pre-determined positions due
to poor weather in the Pacific Ocean.
[5]
Launch opportunities for a fuel-saving Hohmann transfer
orbit occur every 26 months, in this case, 2016 and 2018.
[31]
The Mars Orbiter's on-orbit mission life
is six-to-ten months.
Assembly of the PSLV-XL launch vehicle, designated C25, started on 5 August 2013.
[32]
The
mounting of the five scientific instruments was completed at ISRO Satellite Centre,Bangalore, and
the finished spacecraft was shipped to Sriharikota on 2 October 2013 for integration to the PSLV-XL
launch vehicle.
[32]
The satellite's development was fast-tracked and completed in a record 15
months.
[33]
Despite the US federal government shutdown, NASA reaffirmed on 5 October 2013 it
would provide communications and navigation support to the mission.
[34]

The ISRO plans to send a follow-up mission with a greater scientific payload to Mars in the 2017
2020 timeframe; it would include an orbiter and a stationary lander.
[35]

Cost[edit]
The total cost of the mission was approximately $70 million and is the cheapest inter-planetary
mission ever to be undertaken since Martian exploration began.
[36]
The low cost of the mission was
ascribed by Kopillil Radhakrishnan, the chairman of ISRO, to various factors, including a "modular
approach", a small number of ground tests and long (18-20 hour) working days for
scientists.
[37]
BBC's Jonathan Amos mentioned lower worker costs, home-grown technologies,
simpler design, and significantly less complicated payload than NASA's MAVEN.
[16]
An opinion piece
in The Hindu pointed out that the cost was equivalent to less than a single bus ride for each of
India's population of 1.2 billion.
[38]

Objectives[edit]
The primary objective of the Mars Orbiter Mission is to showcase India's rocket launch systems,
spacecraft-building and operations capabilities.
[39]
Specifically, the primary objective is to develop the
technologies required for design, planning, management and operations of an interplanetary
mission, comprising the following major tasks:
[15]

design and realisation of a Mars orbiter with a capability to perform Earth-bound maneuvres,
cruise phase of 300 days, Mars orbit insertion / capture, and on-orbit phase around Mars;
deep-space communication, navigation, mission planning and management;
incorporate autonomous features to handle contingency situations.
The secondary objective is to explore Mars' surface features, morphology, mineralogy and Martian
atmosphere using indigenous scientific instruments.
[39]

Spacecraft specifications[edit]
Mass: The lift-off mass was 1,350 kg (2,980 lb), including 852 kg (1,878 lb) of propellant.
[2]

Bus: The spacecraft's bus is a modified I-1 K structure and propulsion hardware configuration,
similar to Chandrayaan 1, India's lunar orbiter that operated from 2008 to 2009, with specific
improvements and upgrades needed for a Mars mission.
[39]
The satellite structure is constructed
of an aluminium and composite fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) sandwich construction.
Power: Electric power is generated by three solar array panels of 1.8 m 1.4 m (5 ft 11 in 4 ft
7 in) each (7.56 m
2
(81.4 sq ft) total), for a maximum of 840 watts of power generation in Mars
orbit. Electricity is stored in a 36 Ah Li-ion battery.
[2]

Propulsion: A liquid fuel engine with a thrust of 440 newtons is used for orbit raising and
insertion into Mars orbit. The orbiter also has eight 22-newton thrusters for attitude control.
[40]
Its
propellant mass is 852 kg.
[2]

Payload[edit]
Scientific instruments
LAP Lyman-Alpha Photometer 1.97 kg (4.3 lb)
MSM Methane Sensor for Mars 2.94 kg (6.5 lb)
MENCA
Mars Exospheric Neutral
Composition Analyser
3.56 kg (7.8 lb)
TIS Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer 3.20 kg (7.1 lb)
MCC Mars Colour Camera 1.27 kg (2.8 lb)
The 15 kg (33 lb) scientific payload consists of five instruments:
[4][41][42]

Atmospheric studies:
Lyman-Alpha Photometer (LAP) a photometer that measures the relative abundance
of deuterium and hydrogen fromLyman-alpha emissions in the upper atmosphere.
Measuring the deuterium/hydrogen ratio will allow an estimation of the amount of water loss
to outer space.
Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM) will measure methane in the atmosphere of Mars, if any,
and map its sources.
[4]

Particle environment studies:
Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA) is a quadrupole mass
analyser capable of analysing the neutral composition of particles in the exosphere.
Surface imaging studies:
Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS) will measure the temperature and emissivity
of the Martian surface, allowing for the mapping of surface composition and mineralogy of
Mars.
Mars Colour Camera (MCC) will provide images in the visual spectrum, providing context
for the other instruments.
Telemetry and command[edit]
Further information: Telemetry and Telecommand
The Indian Space Research Organisation Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network performed
navigation and tracking operations for the launch with ground stations atSriharikota, Port
Blair, Brunei and Biak in Indonesia,
[43]
and after the spacecraft's apogee became more than
100,000 km, an 18-metre (59 ft) and an 32 m (105 ft) diameter antenna of the Indian Deep Space
Network were utilised.
[44]
The 18-metre (59 ft) dish-antenna was used for communication with the
craft until April 2014, after which the larger 32 m (105 ft) antenna was used.
[45]
NASA's Deep Space
Network is providing position data through its three stations located
in Canberra, Madrid and Goldstone on the US West Coast during the non-visible period of ISRO's
network.
[46]
The South African National Space Agency's (SANSA) Hartebeesthoek (HBK) ground
station is also providing satellite tracking, telemetry and command services.
[47]

Communications[edit]
Communications are handled by two 230-watt TWTAs and two coherent transponders. The antenna
array consists of a low-gain antenna, a medium-gain antenna and a high-gain antenna. The high-
gain antenna system is based on a single 2.2-metre (7 ft 3 in) reflector illuminated by a feed at S-
band. It is used to transmit and receive the telemetry, tracking, commanding and data to and from
the Indian Deep Space Network.
[2]

Mission profile[edit]