Mangalyaan

No ideas for a new blog. Created this essay for my niece just thought of posting it to boast about ISRO!!! I am going to write on one of the biggest achievement of the Indian Space Research Organization recently the launch of Mars Orbiter Mission also known as Mangalyaan.

ISRO
ISRO stands for Indian Space Research Organisation which is the primary space agency of the Indian government. ISRO is amongst the six largest government space agencies in the world, along with USA's NASA, Russia's RKA, Europe's ESA, China's CNSA and Japan's JAXA. Its primary objective is to advance space technology and use its applications for national benefit. Established in 1969 and headquartered in Bengaluru, ISRO is under the administrative control of the Department of Space, Government of India.
ISRO has achieved numerous milestones since its establishment. India's first satellite, Aryabhata, was built by ISRO and launched by the Soviet Union in 1975. Rohini, the first satellite to be placed in orbit by an Indian-made launch vehicle, SLV-3, was launched in 1980. ISRO subsequently developed two other rockets: the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) for putting satellites into polar orbits and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) for placing satellites into geostationary orbits. These rockets have launched numerous communications satellites and earth observation satellite.

What is Mangalyaan?

Mangalyaan is a satellite launched with the intention to orbit one of the most curious planets of our solar system the Mars. The curiosity surrounding Mars is the possible existence of liquid water and Methane a potential indication of life on the planet at some point in the distant past. The satellite will map the planet’s surface and test for methane. After the successful launch of our lunar satellite Chandrayaan-1 (mission to Moon) in 2008 Mangalyaan was approved on 3 August 2012. The total project cost for Mangalyaan is estimated at approximately 450 crore rupees. It is the cheapest inter-planetary mission when compared to any other missions designed by any other space agency like NASA, ESA etc. The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) was successfully launched into Earth’s orbit on 5 November 2013 at the First Launch Pad at Sriharikota near Chennai, using a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket C25 at 2:38 PM.

Reaching Mars
The Mars Orbiter will have to travel a distance of 780 million kilometers (484 million miles) to reach Mars. In order for the Mangalyaan to reach this amount of distance it will rotate around earth to gain velocity in several phases and at the final phase on December 1 it will free itself from earth’s gravity and reach the interplanetary space between Earth and Mars (Imagine a sling thrower, he swings and swings the sling until the stone has enough velocity to reach the distance. That’s exactly how the Mangalyaan will reach Mars). Mangalyaan is expected to reach the Mars orbit by 24 September 2014 travelling the 484 million miles during its orbit in time.

Objectives:
The Mars Orbiter Mission is to showcase India's rocket launch systems, spacecraft-building and operations capabilities. Specifically, the primary objective is to develop the technologies required for design, planning, management and operations of an interplanetary mission, comprising the following major tasks: • Design and realisation of a Mars orbiter • Deep space communication, navigation, mission planning and management. • Incorporate self-developed features to handle contingency situations. The secondary objective is to explore Mars' surface features, morphology, mineralogy and Martian atmosphere using indigenous scientific instruments. Already ISRO is carrying satellites of several countries with its satellite launch vehicles of PSLV and GSLV rocket series. This will help India establish itself as one of the leading countries in the space programs.