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CHENNAI/BANGALORE: Crossing a major milestone in the country's space history, Isro'sMars Orbiter Mission on Sunday ventured out ofEarth's sphere of influence for the first time in an attempt to reach the red planet's orbit.
The critical manoeuvre to place the Mars orbiter spacecraft in the Mars transfer trajectory was successfully carried out almost an hour past midnight.
During this manoeuvre, which began at 00:49 hours, the spacecraft's 440 Newton liquid engine was fired for about 22 minutes providing a velocity increment of 648 metres/second to the spacecraft.
"Following the completion of this manoeuvre, the Earth orbiting phase of the spacecraft ended. The spacecraft is now on a course to encounter Mars after a journey of about 10 months around the Sun," the Bangalore-headquartered Indian Space Research Organisation said in a statement.
Isro performed the trans-Mars injection, a "crucial event" intended for hurling its Mars orbiter spacecraft into the planned orbit around the Sun, marking the first step towards the 300 day voyage to reach the orbit of the red planet after crossing roughly 680 million kilometres.
"The Trans Mars Injection (TMI) operations, which began at 00.49 hours (IST) completed," Isro said.
Isro has planned four mid-course corrections in case of any deviation along its path to the Martian orbit.
The space agency is scheduled to make four corrections in the course of the spacecraft's voyage to Mars before it is expected to reach the orbit of the red planet in September 2014.
It had performed five orbit-raising manoeuvres on its Mars Orbiter, raising the apogee (farthest point from Earth) of the spacecraft to over 1.92 lakh kilometres, before it performed the "mother of all slingshots".
The spacecraft is being continuously 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 here, the space agency added.
Isro's PSLV C 25 successfully injected the 1,350-kg 'Mangalyaan' Orbiter (Mars craft) into the orbit around the earth some 44 minutes after a text book launch at 2.38 PM from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota on November 5, marking the successful completion of the first stage of the Rs 450-crore mission.
Isro's Mars Orbiter Mission successfully placed in Mars transfer trajectory - The Times of India
Indian probe begins journey to Mars
The spacecraft is due to reach Mars on 24 September next year
India's mission to Mars has embarked on its 300-day journey to the Red Planet.
Early on Sunday the spacecraft fired its main engine for more than 20 minutes, giving it the correct velocity to leave Earth's orbit.
It will now cruise for 680m km (422m miles), setting up an encounter with its target on 24 September 2014.
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.
MOM tweeted: "Earth orbiting phase of the #Mangalyaan ended and now is on a course to encounter Mars after a journey of about 10 months around the Sun."
Since launch on 5 November, the craft has progressively raised its orbit around Earth with a series of engine burns.
The manoeuvres were all successful apart from the fourth, carried out on 11 November, during which a problem with the liquid fuel thruster caused the MOM to fall short of the mark.
But the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has made plans for the eventuality that changes need to be made to the 1,350kg spacecraft's course.
"We have planned right now four mid-course corrections; first one will be around December 11 - plus or minus a couple of days depending on the deviation," the NDTV news channel reported V Koteswara Rao, Isro's scientific secretary, as saying.
On Earth, the majority of atmospheric methane (CH4) is produced by living organisms. The gas has previously been detected in Mars's atmosphere by orbiting spacecraft and by telescopes on Earth.
But Nasa's rover Curiosity recently failed to find the gas in its atmospheric measurements.
If the MOM can detect methane, one possible source could be Martian microbes, perhaps living deep beneath the surface. But CH4 can also be produced by geological processes, including volcanism.
India's PSLV rocket - the second choice for the mission after a beefier launcher failed - was not powerful enough to send the MOM on a direct flight to Mars.
So engineers opted for a method of travel called a Hohmann Transfer Orbit to propel the spacecraft from Earth to Mars with the least amount of fuel possible.
BBC News - Indian probe begins journey to Mars
The critical manoeuvre to place the Mars orbiter spacecraft in the Mars transfer trajectory was successfully carried out almost an hour past midnight.
During this manoeuvre, which began at 00:49 hours, the spacecraft's 440 Newton liquid engine was fired for about 22 minutes providing a velocity increment of 648 metres/second to the spacecraft.
"Following the completion of this manoeuvre, the Earth orbiting phase of the spacecraft ended. The spacecraft is now on a course to encounter Mars after a journey of about 10 months around the Sun," the Bangalore-headquartered Indian Space Research Organisation said in a statement.
Isro performed the trans-Mars injection, a "crucial event" intended for hurling its Mars orbiter spacecraft into the planned orbit around the Sun, marking the first step towards the 300 day voyage to reach the orbit of the red planet after crossing roughly 680 million kilometres.
"The Trans Mars Injection (TMI) operations, which began at 00.49 hours (IST) completed," Isro said.
Isro has planned four mid-course corrections in case of any deviation along its path to the Martian orbit.
The space agency is scheduled to make four corrections in the course of the spacecraft's voyage to Mars before it is expected to reach the orbit of the red planet in September 2014.
It had performed five orbit-raising manoeuvres on its Mars Orbiter, raising the apogee (farthest point from Earth) of the spacecraft to over 1.92 lakh kilometres, before it performed the "mother of all slingshots".
The spacecraft is being continuously 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 here, the space agency added.
Isro's PSLV C 25 successfully injected the 1,350-kg 'Mangalyaan' Orbiter (Mars craft) into the orbit around the earth some 44 minutes after a text book launch at 2.38 PM from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota on November 5, marking the successful completion of the first stage of the Rs 450-crore mission.
Isro's Mars Orbiter Mission successfully placed in Mars transfer trajectory - The Times of India
Indian probe begins journey to Mars
India's mission to Mars has embarked on its 300-day journey to the Red Planet.
Early on Sunday the spacecraft fired its main engine for more than 20 minutes, giving it the correct velocity to leave Earth's orbit.
It will now cruise for 680m km (422m miles), setting up an encounter with its target on 24 September 2014.
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.
MOM tweeted: "Earth orbiting phase of the #Mangalyaan ended and now is on a course to encounter Mars after a journey of about 10 months around the Sun."
Since launch on 5 November, the craft has progressively raised its orbit around Earth with a series of engine burns.
The manoeuvres were all successful apart from the fourth, carried out on 11 November, during which a problem with the liquid fuel thruster caused the MOM to fall short of the mark.
But the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has made plans for the eventuality that changes need to be made to the 1,350kg spacecraft's course.
"We have planned right now four mid-course corrections; first one will be around December 11 - plus or minus a couple of days depending on the deviation," the NDTV news channel reported V Koteswara Rao, Isro's scientific secretary, as saying.
On Earth, the majority of atmospheric methane (CH4) is produced by living organisms. The gas has previously been detected in Mars's atmosphere by orbiting spacecraft and by telescopes on Earth.
But Nasa's rover Curiosity recently failed to find the gas in its atmospheric measurements.
If the MOM can detect methane, one possible source could be Martian microbes, perhaps living deep beneath the surface. But CH4 can also be produced by geological processes, including volcanism.
India's PSLV rocket - the second choice for the mission after a beefier launcher failed - was not powerful enough to send the MOM on a direct flight to Mars.
So engineers opted for a method of travel called a Hohmann Transfer Orbit to propel the spacecraft from Earth to Mars with the least amount of fuel possible.
BBC News - Indian probe begins journey to Mars
