MUMBAI: The countdown to India's 'giant leap' has begun. With exactly a month left for the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) to enter the Red Planet's orbit, Isro on Sunday activated a navigation technique to check the spacecraft's position on a daily basis.
Kiran Kumar, director of Ahmedabad-based Space Application Centre, told TOI the technique, known as Delta-Dor, is based on a simple but effective concept for navigation of interplanetary spacecraft. "It uses two widely-separated antennae to simultaneously track a transmitting spacecraft and measure the time difference between the signals arriving at the two antennae," he said.
On Sunday, MOM was 8.3 million km from Mars, flying at a speed of 3.1 km per second. When it enters the Mars sphere of influence on September 21, its speed will be increased to 5.6 km/second and then reduced to 4.1 km/second during the orbit insertion on September 24, Kumar said.
"We will be constantly monitoring the spacecraft for any untoward acceleration and take corrective measures if it happens," he said.
Isro has planned a trajectory correction manoeuvre on September 14. "On this day, we also plan to flash commands relating to the insertion, which will be stored in the spacecraft. On September 21, three days prior to the insertion, we plan to validate and upload the commands again," he said.
For Mars capture, the spacecraft will consume 249kg of the 295kg fuel it is carrying. "The rest will be used for other activities," said Kumar.
On August 18, all the five payloads on board MOM were checked and they were functioning normally.
"Post the orbit insertion, the Mars Colour Camera is expected to click a picture of the Red Planet, which will be transmitted to the Indian Deep Space Network at Byalalu off the Bangalore-Mysore highway," he said.
Regarding Comet Siding Spring, which will fly past Mars on October 19, Kumar said: "We consider this an opportunity for observation. If necessary, we may place some of the MOM payloads in a safe mode."
Mars Orbiter Mission: India’s ‘giant leap’ a month away - The Times of India
Kiran Kumar, director of Ahmedabad-based Space Application Centre, told TOI the technique, known as Delta-Dor, is based on a simple but effective concept for navigation of interplanetary spacecraft. "It uses two widely-separated antennae to simultaneously track a transmitting spacecraft and measure the time difference between the signals arriving at the two antennae," he said.
On Sunday, MOM was 8.3 million km from Mars, flying at a speed of 3.1 km per second. When it enters the Mars sphere of influence on September 21, its speed will be increased to 5.6 km/second and then reduced to 4.1 km/second during the orbit insertion on September 24, Kumar said.
"We will be constantly monitoring the spacecraft for any untoward acceleration and take corrective measures if it happens," he said.
Isro has planned a trajectory correction manoeuvre on September 14. "On this day, we also plan to flash commands relating to the insertion, which will be stored in the spacecraft. On September 21, three days prior to the insertion, we plan to validate and upload the commands again," he said.
For Mars capture, the spacecraft will consume 249kg of the 295kg fuel it is carrying. "The rest will be used for other activities," said Kumar.
On August 18, all the five payloads on board MOM were checked and they were functioning normally.
"Post the orbit insertion, the Mars Colour Camera is expected to click a picture of the Red Planet, which will be transmitted to the Indian Deep Space Network at Byalalu off the Bangalore-Mysore highway," he said.
Regarding Comet Siding Spring, which will fly past Mars on October 19, Kumar said: "We consider this an opportunity for observation. If necessary, we may place some of the MOM payloads in a safe mode."
Mars Orbiter Mission: India’s ‘giant leap’ a month away - The Times of India
