This spacecraft was designed to last for just six months in the Martian orbit, but surpassing all expectations, it has now completed three years in space. We are talking about ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) that on September 24 completed three years in Mars orbit.
India’s Mars mission was launched on November 5, 2013 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. On December 1, 2013, the spacecraft escaped the Earth’s gravitational field to move on its 10-month long space odyssey. After completing its 300 days of the journey, the spacecraft successfully entered the Martian orbit on September 24, 2014, making India the first country in the world to have successfully reached Mars in its first attempt. During its entry into the mars orbit, the Mangalyaan was carrying a fuel of 40 kg.
In June this year, the Mangalyaan, as it popularly called in India, had spent 1,000 Earth days in Martian Orbit. During this period, the spacecraft had also completed 388 orbits around the Red Planet.
“As the country’s low-cost Mars Orbiter Mission completes three years in its Martian orbit, the satellite is in good health and continues to work as expected,” ISRO said.
According to ISRO, the satellite is enjoying a good health and has enough fuel to circle the Red Planet for next five years. The primary goal of this mission is to study the surface of Mars and determine its mineral composition. The satellite is carrying with it five main scientific instruments, namely (1) Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP), (2) Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA), (3) Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM), (4) Mars Colour Camera (MCC) and (5) Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS).
ISRO has also revealed that during three years of its mission, MOM has experienced many hard days. It resisted an 8-hour-long risky eclipse and whiteout.
