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Mangalyaan, India's Mars Orbiter, has successfully commenced its journey to Mars

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Re: Mangalyaan, India's Mars Orbiter, has successfully commenced its journey to Mars

#21

Post by pavel_lishin »

kens wrote: post #8
balakk wrote: post #2

So does this mean we just sit back & watch for 10 months? Or can something go wrong after this as well?

Here's a summary of Mars missions and their success/failure: http://mars.nasa.gov/programmissions/missions/log/ Lots can go wrong on the Mars side. E.g. Mars Polar Lander - smashed into Mars. Beagle 2 - last heard from just before landing. Mars Climate Orbiter - failed to land because of confusion between pounds and Newtons. Deep Space 2 - no communication after landing. Mars Observer - communication lost 3 days from…

Venus seems to be much more cursed than Mars - at least when it comes to Soviet probes trying to take photos.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera#Venera_9_to_12

Re: Mangalyaan, India's Mars Orbiter, has successfully commenced its journey to Mars

#22

Post by pavel_lishin »

ams6110 wrote: post #7

Had no idea this was even underway.

Me neither. I vaguely defend myself by noting that HN seems to be fairly US-centric, and since I live in the US, I tend to hear more about things like SpaceX launches (watched the two aborted ones this week) than I do about the Indian, Chinese or Japanese space programs.

Re: Mangalyaan, India's Mars Orbiter, has successfully commenced its journey to Mars

#23

Post by joering2 »

chattoraj wrote: post #14

Before someone makes the inevitable "Why are they spending money on this instead of fixing poverty?" argument: The whole Mars mission costs about as much as making four Bollywood movies. http://www.firstpost.com/india/ten-price-tags-to-put-isro-ma...

Worth mentioning: if you would have lived in India, hearing the same story about USA NASA Mars rover landing, you would have said: "Why are they spending time on this instead of fixing 14 trillion dollar debt?"

Just a matter of point of view.

Re: Mangalyaan, India's Mars Orbiter, has successfully commenced its journey to Mars

#24

Post by mahasooq »

neil_s wrote: post #17

What does this actually mean for non-experts in Astronomy? Is it in a higher orbit around Earth, has it started a slingshot for Mars, or has it started orbiting Mars?

It has left the Earth's orbit and started heading towards Mars.

Re: Mangalyaan, India's Mars Orbiter, has successfully commenced its journey to Mars

#25

Post by fuhrer1996 »

TIJ wrote: post #20

I was reading an article somewhere when i came across this stat: that americans have spent 10 times as much as indians have put in this mars probe, i mean how is this possible 10x ratio doesn't seem to be justifying either india is real cheap when it comes to scientific instruments or americans are overspending... and former case doesn't look like a possibility considering that mostly the government companies are man…

Worth looking at: http://www.quora.com/Robert-Frost-Quora-user/What-are-Robert...

Re: Mangalyaan, India's Mars Orbiter, has successfully commenced its journey to Mars

#26

Post by swatkat »

neil_s wrote: post #17

What does this actually mean for non-experts in Astronomy? Is it in a higher orbit around Earth, has it started a slingshot for Mars, or has it started orbiting Mars?

It means, MOM has left Earth's sphere of influence, and it's now orbiting in a heliocentric (Sun-centric) orbit. Later in Sep 2014, when MOM comes close to Mars, its rocket motors will be fired again in order to move towards Mars orbit and get captured by Mars gravity.

Re: Mangalyaan, India's Mars Orbiter, has successfully commenced its journey to Mars

#27

Post by HarryHirsch »

mani04 wrote: post #12
kens wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a summary of Mars missions and their success/failure: http://mars.nasa.gov/programmissions/missions/log/ Lots can go wrong on the Mars side. E.g. Mars Polar Lander - smashed into Mars. Beagle 2 - last heard from just before landing. Mars Climate Orbiter - failed to land because of confusion between pounds and Newtons. Deep Space 2 - no communication after landing. Mars Observer - communication lost 3 days from…

From that NASA website on mission logs - anybody else noticed that the success rates have dramatically increased after 2000? I am wondering if this has got anything to do with significantly enhanced computing power we have nowadays.

I prefer to think that this has to do with the fact that NASA got rid of Dan Goldin and his "faster, better, cheaper" approach to project management.

In space you can't afford to cut corners. You need three people to tighten a screw: one to set the torque wrench, one to tighten the screw, and one to write the protocol, saying that the screw has been tightened. NASA found out in the 1950s, they forgot and learned it again, and Elon Musk will take note eventually.

Re: Mangalyaan, India's Mars Orbiter, has successfully commenced its journey to Mars

#28

Post by swatkat »

Congratulations to ISRO. I was up all night following ISRO's updates :)

Mission homepage: http://www.isro.org/mars/home.aspx

Here are some pics from ISTRAC (ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network) that was looking over the Trans Mars Injection, and the spacecraft itself: http://www.isro.org/mars/momimg.aspx

Here's a color picture of Earth captured by MOM last week: http://www.isro.gov.in/pslv-c25/Imagegallery/mom-images.aspx

Launch photos of PSLV-XL: http://www.isro.org/pslv-c25/Imagegallery/launchvehicle.aspx

Differences between NASA MAVEN and ISRO MOM trajectories: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2013/1122094...

Here's a nice animation detailing the trajectories of MOM and MAVEN, in their heliocentric and geocentric phases: http://sankara.net/mom.html

Before jumping to heliocentric orbit, ISRO did a series of interesting orbit-raising maneuvers to build necessary escape velocity to escape from Earth's sphere of influence. Here are the details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Orbiter_Mission#Orbit_rais... and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Orbiter_Mission#Mission_pr...

Now, MOM has left geocentric orbit and is now in heliocentric (Sun-centric) orbit heading towards Mars. MOM has now entered inter-planetary space. When MOM comes close to Mars in Sep 2014, its rocket motor will be fired to move spacecraft into Mars orbit and get captured by Mars gravity. During this journey, ISRO has planned for four mid-course corrections if needed.

Re: Mangalyaan, India's Mars Orbiter, has successfully commenced its journey to Mars

#29

Post by swatkat »

hrjet wrote: post #11
iamshs wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Main risk factor of this whole program was the injection into earth orbit with correct orientation. The journey to Mars should be relatively risk-free. There still will be minor corrections en-route to Mars by firing engines. Mainly, now we sit back and wait for it to be captured by Mars gravity, the next major step where failure can occur.

> the injection into earth orbit with correct orientation. Can that be called a new achievement for the launch vehicle? Is it more difficult than a high orbit satellite?

I guess it's similar to launching and placing satellites in right orbit, or parking orbit?

ISRO's launch vehicle PSLV-XL placed MOM in a parking orbit on Nov 5, 2013 and then ISRO did a series of orbit-raising maneuvers to bring MOM closer to Trans Mars Injection point. This post at The Planetary Society gives an idea about the orbits traversed by MOM:

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2013/congrat...

Re: Mangalyaan, India's Mars Orbiter, has successfully commenced its journey to Mars

#30

Post by austinz »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #22
ams6110 wrote: post #7

Had no idea this was even underway.

Me neither. I vaguely defend myself by noting that HN seems to be fairly US-centric, and since I live in the US, I tend to hear more about things like SpaceX launches (watched the two aborted ones this week) than I do about the Indian, Chinese or Japanese space programs.

You're in luck - Chang'e 3 launches tomorrow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e_3), and assuming it doesn't blow up en route to orbit you'll probably hear more about it (especially as it's forecast to be the first spacecraft in decades to make a soft landing upon the Moon).
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