Spacecraft and Mars Orbiter Mission free essay sample

The MOM mission began with a feasibility study in 2010, after the launch of lunar satellite Chandrayaan-1in 2008.[16] The government of India approved the project on 3 August 2012,[17] after the Indian Space Research Organisation completed 125 crore (US$19 million) of required studies for the orbiter.[18] The total project cost may be up to 454 crore (US$69 million).[9][19] The satellite costs 153 crore(US$23 million) and the rest of the budget has been attributed to ground stations and relay upgrades that will be used for other ISRO projects.[20] The space agency had initially planned the launch on 28 October 2013 but was postponed to 5 November 2013 following the inability of ISROs spacecraft tracking ships to take up pre-determined positions due to poor weather in the Pacific Ocean.[5] Launch  opportunities for a fuel-saving Hohmann transfer orbit occur about every 26 months, in this case, 2016 and 2018.[21] The Mars Orbiters on-orbit mission life will be between six and ten months. Assembly of the PSLV-XL launch vehicle, designated C25, started on 5 August 2013. We will write a custom essay sample on Spacecraft and Mars Orbiter Mission or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page [22] The integration of the five scientific instruments was completed at ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore, and the finished spacecraft was shipped to Sriharikotta on 2 October 2013.[22] The satellites development was fast-tracked and completed in a record 15 months.[23] Despite the U.S. federal government shutdown, NASA reaffirmed on 5 October 2013 it would provide communications and navigation support to the mission.[24] ISRO chairman stated in November 2013 that if the MOM and NASAs orbiter MAVEN were successful, they would complement each other in findings and help understand Mars better.[25] P. Kunhikrishnan was the PSLV-XL spacecraft launch Mission Director. Mylswamy Annadurai is the Program Director and Subbiah Arunan is the Project Director. S. K. Shivkumar of ISAC was responsible for the orbiting payload and also oversaw design and development of the orbiter.[26] Current status[edit] On 19 October 2013, ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan announced that the launch had to be postponed by a week as a result of a delay of a crucial telemetry ship reaching Fiji Islands. The launch was rescheduled for 5 November 2013.[27] The PSLV rocket lifted off at 09:08 UTC (2:38 p.m. IST), and placed the satellite into Earth orbit at 09:50 UTC,[28] with a perigee of 264.1 km, an apogee of 23,903.6 km, and inclination of 19.20 degrees,[29] with both the antenna and all three sections of the solar panel arrays being deployed.[30] During the first three orbit raising operations, ISRO has progressively tested the autonomy functions of the spacecraft that are essential for trans-Mars injection and Mars orbit insertion.[31] The systems tested satisfactorily are: †¢The prime and redundant chains of gyros and accelerometers. †¢Liquid motor attitude control thrusters.