Mars Orbiter Mission The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) is a space probe that has been orbiting Mars since 24 September 2014.[8] It was launched on 5 November 2013 by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).[9] It is India's first interplanetary mission. India is both the first Asian nation to reach Mars orbit and the first nation to reach Mars on its first try.[10] Another name for the probe is Mangalyaan. Mission goals The main goal of the mission is to develop the technologies needed for interplanetary missions. The other goal is to explore Mars' surface, rocks, and atmosphere.[11] Scientists want to know how much CO2 and methane is in the atmosphere of Mars. They also want to know how the solar wind and radiation affect Mars. Scientists also want to learn more about Mars's moons, Phobos and Deimos. Related pages - List of Mars orbiters - List of missions to Mars References - ↑ "Mars Orbiter Spacecraft completes Engine Test, fine-tunes its Course". Spaceflight 101. 22 September 2014. Archived from the original on 11 October 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2014. - 1 2 "Mars Orbiter Mission Spacecraft". Indian Space Research Organisation. Mass: The lift-off mass was 1,337.2 kg (2,948 lb), including 852 kg (1,878 lb) of propellant. Bus: The spacecraft's bus is a modified I-1 K structure and propulsion hardware configuration, similar to Chandrayaan-1, India's lunar orbiter that operated from 2008 to 2009, with specific improvements and upgrades needed for a Mars mission. The satellite structure is constructed of an aluminium and composite fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) sandwich construction. Power: Electric power is generated by three solar array panels of 1.8 m × 1.4 m (5 ft 11 in × 4 ft 7 in) each (7.56 m2 (81.4 sq ft) total), for a maximum of 840 watts of power generation in Mars orbit. Electricity is stored in a 36 Ah Lithium-ion battery. Propulsion: A liquid fuel engine with a thrust of 440 newtons (99 lbf) is used for orbit raising and insertion into Mars orbit. The orbiter also has eight 22-newton (4.9 lbf) thrusters for attitude control (orientation). Its propellant mass at launch was 852 kg (1,878 lb). Attitude and Orbit Control System: Maneuvering system that includes electronics with a MAR31750 processor, two star sensors, a solar panel Sun sensor, a coarse analog Sun sensor, four reaction wheels, and the primary propulsion On 24 September 2015, ISRO released its Mars Atlas, a 120-page scientific atlas containing images and data from the Mars Orbiter Mission's first year in orbit. It can be accessed here. [1] In March 2016, the first science results of the mission were published in Geophysical Research Letters, presenting measurements obtained by the spacecraft's MENCA instrument of the Martian exosphere. During 18 to 30 May 2016, a communication whiteout occurred with Earth coming directly between Sun and Mars. Due to high solar radiation, sending commands to spacecraft was avoided and payload operations were suspended. On 17 January 2017, MOM's orbit was altered to avoid the impending eclipse season. With a burn of eight 22 N thrusters for 431 seconds, resulting in a velocity difference of 97.5 metres per second (351 km/h) using 20 kilograms (44 lb) of propellant (leaving 13 kilograms [29 lb] remaining), eclipses were avoided until September 2017. The battery is able to handle eclipses of up to 100 minutes. On 19 May 2017, MOM reached 1,000 days (973 sols) in orbit around Mars. In that time, the spacecraft completed 388 orbits of the planet and relayed more than 715 images back to Earth. ISRO officials stated that it remains in good health. On 24 September 2018, MOM completed 4 years in its orbit around Mars, although the designed mission life was only six months. Over these years, MOM's Mars Colour Camera has captured over 980 images that were released to the public. The probe is still in good health and continues to work nominally. On 24 September 2019, MOM completed 5 years in orbit around Mars, sending 2 terabytes of imaging data, and had enough propellant to complete another year in orbit. On 1 July 2020, MOM was able to capture a photo of the Mars satellite Phobos from 4,200 kilometres (2,600 mi) away. On 18 July 2021 Mars Colour Camera (MCC) captured full disc image of Mars from an altitude of about 75,000 kilometres (47,000 mi) with spatial resolution about 3.7 kilometres (2.3 mi). In October 2022, ISRO announced that it had lost communications with MOM in April 2022, a time when the spacecraft faced increasingly longer duration eclipses, including a seven-hour long eclipse that it was not designed to withstand. ISRO said the spacecraft had likely run out of attitude control propellant and was therefore not recoverable. In 2014, China referred to India's successful Mars Orbiter Mission as the "Pride of Asia". The Mars Orbiter Mission team won US-based National Space Society's 2015 Space Pioneer Award in the science and engineering category. NSS said the award was given as the Indian agency successfully executed a Mars mission in its first attempt; and the spacecraft is in an elliptical orbit with a high apoapsis where, with its high resolution camera, it is taking full-disk colour imagery of Mars. Very few full disk images have ever been taken in the past, mostly on approach to the planet, as most imaging is done looking straight down in mapping mode. These images will aid planetary scientists. An illustration of the Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft is featured on the reverse of the ₹2,000 currency note of India. An image taken by the Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft was the cover photo of the November 2016 issue of National Geographic magazine, for their story "Mars: Race to the Red Planet". Mars Orbiter Mission website Archived 10 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine Mars Orbiter Mission brochure Archived 2 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine Current Science Vol. 109, Issue 6: Special Section on Mars Orbiter Mission with featured papers (25 September 2015)

Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), unofficially known as Mangalyaan (Sanskrit: Maṅgala 'Mars', Yāna 'Craft, Vehicle'), is a space probe orbiting Mars since 24 September 2014. It was launched on 5 November 2013 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was India's first interplanetary mission and it made ISRO the fourth space agency to achieve Mars orbit, after Soviet space program, NASA, and t In 2014, China referred to India's successful Mars Orbiter Mission as the "Pride of Asia". The Mars Orbiter Mission team won US-based National Space Society's 2015 Space Pioneer Award in the science and engineering category. NSS said the award was given as the Indian agency successfully executed a Mars mission in its first attempt; and the spacecraft is in an elliptical orbit with a high apoapsis where, with its high resolution camera, it is taking full-disk colour imagery of Mars. Very few full disk images have ever been taken in the past, mostly on approach to the planet, as most imaging is done looking straight down in mapping mode. These images will aid planetary scientists. An illustration of the Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft is featured on the reverse of the ₹2,000 currency note of India. An image taken by the Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft was the cover photo of the November 2016 issue of National Geographic magazine, for their story "Mars: Race to the Red Planet". Mars Orbiter Mission website Archived 10 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine Mars Orbiter Mission brochure Archived 2 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine Current Science Vol. 109, Issue 6: Special Section on Mars Orbiter Mission with featured papers (25 September 2015) Mass: The lift-off mass was 1,337.2 kg (2,948 lb), including 852 kg (1,878 lb) of propellant. Bus: The spacecraft's bus is a modified I-1 K structure and propulsion hardware configuration, similar to Chandrayaan-1, India's lunar orbiter that operated from 2008 to 2009, with specific improvements and upgrades needed for a Mars mission. The satellite structure is constructed of an aluminium and composite fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) sandwich construction. Power: Electric power is generated by three solar array panels of 1.8 m × 1.4 m (5 ft 11 in × 4 ft 7 in) each (7.56 m2 (81.4 sq ft) total), for a maximum of 840 watts of power generation in Mars orbit. Electricity is stored in a 36 Ah Lithium-ion On 24 September 2015, ISRO released its Mars Atlas, a 120-page scientific atlas containing images and data from the Mars Orbiter Mission's first year in orbit. It can be accessed here. [1] In March 2016, the first science results of the mission were published in Geophysical Research Letters, presenting measurements obtained by the spacecraft's MENCA instrument of the Martian exosphere. During 18 to 30 May 2016, a communication whiteout occurred with Earth coming directly between Sun and Mars. Due to high solar radiation, sending commands to spacecraft was avoided and payload operations were suspended. On 17 January 2017, MOM's orbit was altered to avoid the impending eclipse season. With a burn of eight 22 N thrusters for 431 seconds, resulting in a velocity difference of 97.5 metres per second (351 km/h) using 20 kilograms (44 lb) of propellant (leaving 13 kilograms [29 lb] remaining), eclipses were avoided until September 2017. The battery is able to handle eclipses of up to 100 minutes. On 19 May 2017, MOM reached 1,000 days (973 sols) in orbit around Mars. In that time, the spacecraft completed 388 orbits of the planet and relayed more than 715 images back to Earth. ISRO officials stated that it remains in good health. On 24 September 2018, MOM completed 4 years in its orbit around Mars, although the designed mission life was only six months. Over these years, MOM's Mars Colour Camera has captured over 980 images that were released to the public. The probe is still in good health and continues to work nominally. On 24 September 2019, MOM completed 5 years in orbit around Mars, sending 2 terabytes of imaging data, and had enough propellant to complete another year in orbit. On 1 July 2020, MOM was able to capture a photo of the Mars satellite Phobos from 4,200 kilometres (2,600 mi) away. On 18 July 2021 Mars Colour Camera (MCC) captured full disc image of Mars from an altitude of about 75,000 kilometres (47,000 mi) with spatial resolution about 3.7 kilometres (2.3 mi). In October 2022, ISRO announced that it had lost communications with MOM in April 2022, a time when the spacecraft faced increasingly longer duration eclipses, including a seven-hour long eclipse that it was not designed to withstand. ISRO said the spacecraft had likely run out of attitude control propellant and was therefore not recoverable. In 2014, China referred to India's successful Mars Orbiter Mission as the "Pride of Asia". The Mars Orbiter Mission team won US-based National Space Society's 2015 Space Pioneer Award in the science and engineering category. NSS said the award was given as the Indian agency successfully executed a Mars mission in its first attempt; and the spacecraft is in an elliptical orbit with a high apoapsis where, with its high resolution camera, it is taking full-disk colour imagery of Mars. Very few full disk images have ever been taken in the past, mostly on approach to the planet, as most imaging is done looking straight down in mapping mode. These images will aid planetary scientists. An illustration of the Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft is featured on the reverse of the ₹2,000 currency note of India. An image taken by the Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft was the cover photo of the November 2016 issue of National Geographic magazine, for their story "Mars: Race to the Red Planet". Mars Orbiter Mission website Archived 10 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine Mars Orbiter Mission brochure Archived 2 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine Current Science Vol. 109, Issue 6: Special Section on Mars Orbiter Mission with featured papers (25 September 2015)

India's space program has witnessed transformative achievements in interplanetary exploration, propelling the nation into the forefront of space science and technology. This comprehensive overview delves into key milestones, objectives, and outcomes of India's interplanetary missions, beginning with the trailblazing Chandrayaan-1 that altered lunar studies by detecting water traces. Mangalyaan-1's success in orbiting Mars on its maiden attempt underscored India's prowess in Martian exploration. Despite a setback in the Chandrayaan-2 lunar landing, it provided ground-breaking lunar data. The recently launched Aditya-L1 focuses on solar observation, capturing high-energy X-rays and solar disc images. Future missions, including Chandrayaan-3, Mangalyaan-2, and the Venus Orbiter Mission (Shukrayaan), exemplify India's commitment to advancing planetary exploration. These endeavours, marked by cutting-edge technology and diverse scientific objectives, highlight India's growing prominence in global space exploration and contribute significantly to humanity's understanding of the cosmos.