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Indian Mars Probe Successfully Enters Sun-Centric Orbit

Posted by timothy on from the difficult-task dept.

New submitter palemantle writes with this excerpt from The Hindu, updating our earlier mention of the successful launch of India's Mars-bound probe: "In a remarkably successful execution of a complex manoeuvre, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) fired the propulsion system on board the spacecraft for a prolonged duration of 23 minutes from 0049 hours on Sunday. In space parlance, the manoeuvre is called Trans-Mars Injection (TMI). ISRO called it 'the mother of all slingshots.' Celebrations broke out at the control centre of the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Bangalore from where the spacecraft specialists gave commands for the orbiter's 440 Newton engine to begin firing. The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also known as Mangalyaan, is designed to demonstrate the technological capability to reach Mars orbit. But the $72m (£45m) probe will also carry out experiments, including a search for methane gas in the planet's atmosphere."

3 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Great but... money better spent elsewhere by ThatsMyNick · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well 73 million is 0.025% of their yearly budget (73m/280b). Spending the renaming 99.975% of the budget will have more appropriately will have more of effect on corruption, poverty, and inequality issues in my opinion. If help improve research and help improve research and manufacturing technology, it would probably more than pay for itself. It would also probably bring more business to Antrix (commercial wing of ISRO), and probably even make money for the Indian govt, and end up with a net gain rather than 72 million expense.

  2. An Indian Odyssey by varshar · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Excellent work by our scientists and engineers at ISRO.

    Mangalyaan is thus far proving:

    1. How reliable PSLV series is for commercial space-launch.

    2. How far India has come in mastery over orbital mechanics - witness the precise application of Oberth effect. This isn't just your granddads Hohmann slingshot. At least not yet.

    3. Setting benchmark pricing for Mars transit at USD 70 Mn. for 485 Kg payload viz. 144K USD per Kg.

    4. Generating huge impact among school kids. Visits to Nehru planetarium are no longer about US this and Russia that... even though we owe them for being pioneers.

    I look forward to the next logical extension viz. manned-mission with the Indian flag atop Olympus Mons.

    Varun

  3. Re:Great but... money better spent elsewhere by AHuxley · · Score: 5, Interesting

    India asked itself the about the payback of advanced technologies in the late 1940's to 1960's.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Space_Research_Organisation#Goals_and_objectives
    Seems they got the funding mix right and can now enjoy the long term tech exports and get to add to space science :)

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"