MANGALAM BHAVATHU....(Input courtesy: Hindustan Times)
Mangalyaan LIVE: India creates history, reaches Mars orbit on maiden
attempt
First Published: 04:18
IST(24/9/2014) | Last Updated: 08:38 IST(24/9/2014)
India created history on
Wednesday, becoming the first country in the world to succeed on its
first Mars mission when Isro's Mangalyaan slipped into Martian orbit after
a few nail-biting moments.
The country joined the
United States, European Space Agency and the former Soviet Union in the elite
club of Martian explorers with the Mars Orbiter Mission, affectionately called
MOM.
Earlier, there were some tense
moments at the Indian Space and Research Organisation (Isro),
which commanded a series of tricky manoeuvres to position the spacecraft
in its designated orbit around Mars.
The
insertion started at 4.17am when the spacecrfat switched over to the medium
gain antenna for providing the communication link during the insertion.
At 6.56am, the spacecraft initiated the process of forward rotation,
reducing its speed.
At 7.17am,
the scientists had to grapple with the most critical moment — when the liquid
apogee motor had to be fired. The motor was woken up for four seconds
on Monday during a test-fire after 300 days of long sleep.
The motor
was fired for 24 minutes, reducing the velocity of the spacecraft by
4.2km per second in relation to Mars. This was soon followed by moments
of tension and anxiety when the communication broke as the spacecraft
slipped behind Mars as the scientists waited for the good
news.
At 7.45am, the occult
ended and after two minutes, communication with the spacecraft resumed and
data was flashed about the performance of the liquid apogee motor.
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Isro scientists after the
mission met with success.
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