Saturday, November 30, 2013

Mars Orbiter Mission - MOM - Mangalyaan

Pre-Launch Updates

Nov 05, 2013
  • PSLV-C25, in its twenty fifth flight successfully launches Mars Orbiter Mission Spacecraft from SDSC SHAR.
  • PSLV-C25 lifted off at 14:38 hrs.
  • Automatic sequencing of launch initiated.
  • Launch authorised by Mission Director for GO at 14:24 hrs.
  • Mobile Service Tower (MST) withdrawal to final parking (150m) completed. Countdown is normal.
  • All vehicle systems are switched ON for the final eight and half hour countdown starting at 6:08 hrs (IST).
  • Second Stage (PS2) Propellant filling operations completed.
Nov 04, 2013
  • Second Stage (PS2) Propellant filling commenced.
  • Mobile Service Tower (MST) withdrawal upto 50m is completed.
  • Mandatory Checks and Preparations for Propellant filling operations of Second Stage (PS2) are in progress.
Nov 03, 2013
  • Propellant filling of PS4 stage and RCT completed.
  • Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen (MON) filling of PS4 completed at 17:00 hrs (IST).
  • Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen (MON) filling of PS4 under progress.
  • Mono Methyl Hydrazine (MMH) filling of Reaction Control Thrusters (RCT) completed.
  • Mono Methyl Hydrazine (MMH) filling completed.
  • Propellant filling operations of Fourth Stage (PS4) are in progress.
  • The 56 hr 30 min countdown of Mission commenced at 06:08 hrs (IST).
Nov 02, 2013
  • All the pre-countdown activities have been completed satisfactorily and the 56 and half hr countdown of Mission will commence tomorrow at 06:08 hrs (IST).
  • Pre-count down activities of Mission commenced at 08:45 hrs.
Nov 01, 2013
  • Launch Authorisation Board has approved & cleared the PSLV-C25/Mars Orbiter Mission launch on Nov 05, 2013 at 14:38 hrs (IST)
  • 56 and half hr countdown for launch will begin on Nov 03, 2013 at 06:08 hrs (IST)
Oct 31, 2013
  • Launch Rehearsal of PSLV-C25/Mars Orbiter Mission has been completed successfully in the afternoon on Oct 31, 2013.
  • Launch Rehearsal of PSLV-C25/Mars Orbiter Mission commenced at 06:08 hrs (IST) on Oct 31, 2013 at First Launch Pad, SDSC SHAR.
  • Vehicle systems powered and health is normal.
Oct 30, 2013
  • Spacecraft & Launch Vehicle integrated level checks completed.
  • Preparations for Launch Rehearsal are under progress.
Oct 22, 2013
  • Spacecraft Integration with the Launcher PSLV-C25 Completed.
  • Heat Shield Closure Activity is completed.

Mangalyaan: a steal at Re.4 per person

Nine days ago India’s space mission termed Mangalyaan, the voyage towards the planet Mars, was launched. It was what one calls a “textbook” launch with zero error, and one that has made India say “Yes, we can”. And in 300 days, it will have covered 680 million kilometres to orbit the Red Planet on September 24, 2014. Once that happens, it will start analysing the surface of the planet for any methane, a gas which is believed to hint at the presence of any Martian biology or life forms.
It is a proud moment in the history of India, a nation that started its space programme just about 50 years ago, or to put it in another way, with the “Chutzpah” of a teenage nation. With the Mangalyaan experiment, some say that India has “arrived” as a member of technically advanced nations.
Yet some voices have been raised in the country about whether this is worth it, whether it is a meaningless bombast, and whether this money of Rs 460 crores spent on Mangalyan could not have been used to feed the starving millions across the country. India is a land of stark contrasts. Half the people here live on less than two dollars a day, of which many are estimated to live on even less than Rupees 30 a day.
To this, the criticism, the Space Commission Chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan responded saying that every rupee spent here benefits people all across India. To put it in perspective, he said that Mangalyan cost each of us 115 crore Indians about Rupees Four.
What has the “aam admi” got out of these four rupees; or even forty or four hundred, counting over the year? Plenty! Recall how Indian satellites hovering around us give us real time information on weather, information to fishermen and coastal farmers on the tides and fish flock, on the state of ships and other vessels near and far from the coast, carry radio and TV waves, and most of all help in saving lives of millions.
Thanks to help from our space programme, the loss of lives in the recent cyclone Phanini was limited to 44 and almost a million people were saved by prior evacuation. Earlier cyclones, when we did not have this facility of early warning killed tens of thousands. Yes, but why to Mars? Herein is where the idea of development becomes important. India is still thought of as a “developing nation”, once ridiculed as a “ship to mouth” economy.
How does development occur? When and how does a country become “developed”?
Development has multiple components: proper food, clothing and shelter for the people; adequate education and culture; good health; good environment; equal opportunity for all; ability to defend from enemies; economic stability and growth; and above all, good governance, all leading to a feeling of justifiable national pride. If you look at any one of these above components, technology plays a vital role in it. Technology comes out of logical, scientific and rational thought and its application. The greatest thing about technology is that it is scalable to millions, it becomes cheap and affordable once it is spread, demanded and used; it can thus offer convenience and progress for the entire nation. Thanks to technology, we have now moved from “ship to mouth” to a “silo to ship” economy, and we rid ourselves of smallpox and polio, and are vaccinating all children against some common childhood diseases. It is here that Mangalyan is relevant. The 460 crores expenditure has several useful effects. We are using the latest technology, indeed creating new ones, and at a frugal cost. Mars missions by European or American countries would be at least thrice costlier. And the design, building, testing and setting up have all been done by Indian engineers. Only some vital components are imported. It has thus led us to be self-sufficient and advanced our capabilities. The technological prowess to aim for Mars means that we can apply it, and even better it for terrestrial needs at home. It also brings us business (recall that we pack the payloads of other countries in our satellites). It has captured the imagination of youngsters (over 2 lakh “likes” on Facebook by 18-21 year-olds). Mangalyan thus is a tool to attract youth and advance science.
It is therefore not an expense but an investment for the future. Today it is Mars, tomorrow even greater challenges. Should India not be ready? Mars is thus a metaphor.
Should these 460 crores not have been spent on feeding the poor? Look at the larger picture. The budget of India for the year 2013-14 is Rs 16,65,297 crores; this amounts to an individual amount of about Rs 14,500 per person. We have budgeted Rs 27,049 crores for agriculture (Rs 235 per Indian), plus Rs 33,000 crores on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act or MGNREGA, to help the rural poor, which is another Rs 280 per person.
Money is thus earmarked and distributed to help the rural poor (Mangalyan has not taken away even a rupee out of these allocations). Despite these efforts, there are large holes in the programme, thanks to inefficient governance.
If we can tighten this up, complaint about feeding the poor will be far less or can even vanish. Here too, technology helps through efficiency, cutting out the middlemen and so forth. Compared to these, Rs 460 crores on Mangalyan, or Rs 4 per Indian (about an onion or two) is not just a grand bargain but a steal!

Spacecraft

The spacecraft structure and propulsion hardware configurations are similar to Chandrayaan 1, India's first robotic lunar orbiter that operated from 2008 to 2009, with specific improvements and upgrades needed for a Mars specific mission.
Mass
The lift-off mass was 1,350 kg (2,980 lb), including 852 kg (1,878 lb) of propellant mass.
Dimensions
Cuboid in shape of approximately 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in)
Bus
The spacecraft's bus is a modified I-1 K structure and propulsion hardware configurations similar to Chandrayaan 1, India's lunar orbiter that operated from 2008 to 2009, with specific improvements and upgrades needed for a Mars mission.[35] The satellite structure is of aluminum and composite fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) sandwich construction.
Power
Electric power is generated by three solar array panels of 1.8 × 1.4 m (5 ft 10 in × 4 ft 7 in) each (7.56 m2 (81.4 sq ft) total), for a maximum of 840 W generation in Martian orbit. Electricity is stored in a 36 Ah Li-ion battery.
Propulsion
Liquid fuel engine of 440 N thrust is used for orbit raising and insertion in Martian orbit. The orbiter also has eight 22 N thrusters for attitude control or orientation.
Communications
Two 230 W TWTAs and two coherent transponders. The antenna array consists of a low-gain antenna, a medium-gain antenna and a high-gain antenna. The High-gain antenna system is based on a single 2.2 meter reflector illuminated by a feed at S-band. It is used to transmit and receive the telemetry, tracking, commanding and data to and from the Indian Deep Space Network.

Mangalyaan Image

India's Mars mission launch rehearsal at Sriharikota tomorrow

Cyclone Helen photographed by newly-launched satellite Mangalyaan

Cyclone Helen photographed by newly-launched satellite Mangalyaan


Severe cyclonic storm 'Helen', which is likely to hit southern Andhra Pradesh coast on Friday afternoon, has been photographed by India's Mars Orbiter, Mangalyaan. This is the first image of India captured by the satellite.

The image of the Indian sub-continent shows the formation of cyclone Helen east of Andhra Pradesh in the Bay of Bengal. It was captured in the afternoon of November 19, when the space craft was about 68,000 kilometers above India.

The Rs. 150 crore satellite carries on board a 'Mars Colour Camera' that weighs 1.5 kilograms and can takes photos at a resolution of 20 meters. The scientists managed to capture this photo as they were testing the camera.

The 1350 kilogram satellite was launched from Sriharikota on November 5 and since then its orbit has been raised several times and if all goes well a little after midnight on December 1, 2013 the satellite will be sent on its long journey to Mars.  

Source : http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/cyclone-helen-photographed-by-newly-launched-satellite-mangalyaan-449169

Countdown begins for Mars Orbiter Mission to leave earth's gravity at 12.49am

HYDERABAD: The count down has begun. Tonight is the night Isro's scientists are eagerly waiting for. Not with their fingers crossed but with the confidence that they can get on the feeling that they have done their job right. It's not going to be a nail-biting time but an hour and time that they are looking for to.

India's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) will leave earth's gravity at 12.49 am tonight (past midnight on Novevmber 30). This would make it 00.49 hrs on Sunday morning (December 1).

"Everything is ready. The team of scientists is on the job," an Isro spokesperson said explaining the different stages that are to take place operationally.

With 'MOM' fans looking forward to the time when the spacecraft will leave the earth's gravity tonight, they are flooding Isro scientists with questions.

"While the Mars Orbiter Mission leaves the cradle of Earth, we need to rely on Sun's gravity and laws of the universe to deliver it to Mars at the right epoch," Isro scientists explained.

'Attitude and Orbit Control thrusters' and the liquid engine on board will be used for keeping the MOM on course. This is Isro's first ever experience of hurling a spacecraft beyond Earth's sphere of influence.

"This trans-Mars injection will herald a new era of interplanetary missions for India," Isro said.
Isro had explained that the two doughnut shaped blankets that shroud the Earth with highly charged plasma particles comprising of electrons, protons and nuclei are called Van Allen Radiation belts and that MOM has successfully sustained several passes of these lethal radiation belts speculated to have been formed by furious solar winds and harmful cosmic rays. Scientists had explained that these belts are a part of Earth's inner magnetosphere and stretch from an altitude of 1000 km to 60,000 km above Earth. They had also said prolonged exposure to these belts poses a significant threat to various sensitive components of a spacecraft. ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft is designed with sufficient safeguards against such fatal particles.

The question now is: Does Mars also has similar radiation belt(s)? Responding to the query by Arun K Desai, Isro replied that scientists think that Mars had a global magnetic field like that of Earth, which disappeared billions of years ago. Without the protection of this magnetic field, most of the water and atmosphere escaped from Mars. In the absence of Magnetic field, radiation belts also won't sustain.

To another question by Madhuri J Madhuri, scientists said MOM has to survive the radiation belt while moving at the natural velocity of the orbit. MOM fires its liquid engine only for making orbit changes.

It has also been clarified to MOM fans that the spacecraft does not take a longer time to reach Mars because of the extra burn as a result of the fifth orbit raising manoeuvre .

India's Mars mission launch rehearsal at Sriharikota tomorrow

Sriharikota:  Ahead of the launch of its Rs. 430 crore Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), India's premier space agency ISRO will tomorrow carry out a launch rehearsal at the First Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

"We will carry out a launch rehearsal tomorrow at 6.08 AM. Except for pressing the 'ignite' button, all other procedures would be checked and see whether all preparations are in place," PSLV C-25 Mission Director P Kunhikrishnan told reporters.

PSLV C-25 carrying the Mars Orbiter spacecraft is slated for lift-off at 2.36 PM on November 5.

The launch rehearsal would go through the last eight-and-ahalf hour simulation of the 56-and-a-half-hour countdown. Satellite battery check-up, withdrawing of mobile service tower and checking various technical parameters, including electrical activities would be part of the launch rehearsal, he said.

The satellite has been already integrated with the launch vehicle, which is ready for launch in the First Launch Pad.

ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan, talking to reporters in Chennai en route here, said the countdown would begin on November 3.

"We are getting ready for the launch of Mars Orbiter spacecraft onboard PSLV-C25. Tomorrow we will be doing the rehearsal of the launch countdown", he said. "The lift-off is expected in the afternoon of November 5," he said responding to a query.

One of the main objectives the first Indian mission to Mars is to develop the technologies required for design, planning, management and operations of an interplanetary mission.

Asked about the launch of GSLV-D5 which was called off in August due to a fuel leak, Radhakrishnan said the work on GSLV assembly was proceeding.

"The GSLV assembly is going on at the moment. By December 15, we should have the launch", he said.