BENGALURU: The Mars Orbiter craft, which was part of India’s first Mangalyaan mission eight years ago, may soon disappear into oblivion as it has run out of jet propellant and batteries, while the connection with it has been lost. The Orbiter, though initially expected to last just about six months, served the space community for over eight long years.
The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) was launched onboard PSLV-C25 on November 5, 2013, and the spacecraft was injected into Mars orbit on September 24, 2014. ISRO spokesperson confirmed the news to TNIE and said the Orbiter had already outlived its lifespan and served the required purpose.
The service has not been fully halted, but partially, he added. Till the fuel lasted, the ISRO could manoeuvre the craft to take it to a new orbit to avoid any impending eclipse. But there were two eclipses recently that lasted over seven hours and all the propellant on the craft was exhausted. The batteries can last an eclipse of one hour and 40 mins, but recent celestial events lasted much longer, draining the batteries beyond the safe limit, ISRO sources said.
However, the mission’s main objectives were realised. They included the design and flight aspect of the orbiter, where it could function independently during its journey phase, the spacecraft’s injection into the Martian orbit and the in-orbit phase around Mars.
MOM hailed by intl community
The MOM, which was a technology demonstration mission, carried five scientific payloads totalling 15 kg, that collected data on surface geology, morphology, atmospheric processes, surface temperature and atmospheric escape process.
MOM proved that the Mars mission could be cost-effective and can be done within a short planning and realisation period. It was also hailed by the international scientific community for five different payloads, ISRO officials said.
The Mars Color Camera took over a thousand images and created an atlas of the Red Planet. It also took shots of the full disc of Mars at its farthest point and finer details from the closest point. The follow-up to that first mission, Mangalyaan-2, is still in the planning stages.