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Mangalyaan Clears Crucial Test (Updated)

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Mangalyaan Faces Four-Second Trial by Fire

BANGALORE:  India's Mars orbiter satellite has been on an arduous nine-month-long journey to the Red Planet, but its main rocket engine has been lying dormant for this extended period. Now, scientists from the Indian Space Research Organisation or ISRO will 'wake up' the engine to see if it can work at its efficient best. (Also Watch: Mangalyaan Healthy, Team Cool, says ISRO Chief to NDTV)

Launched on November 5 last year, India's Mangalyaan has been successfully braving the rough weather in space. The satellite carries one large rocket motor and eight smaller thrusters. 

For most of its journey, the larger rocket motor has been idling, so the worry is will it function on demand and will it function efficiently? ISRO will test it in a short four-second burn and then embark on the future course of action. (Watch the Video)

ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan says, "We have done a lot of ground simulations and hope that the four-second test will slow the satellite down and correct its trajectory as well in a two-in-one operation".

 

The big rocket motor on board Mangalyaan has performed flawlessly in over two dozen earlier missions since 1992, so there is a lot of confidence that this time too, things will go as per plan. 

"All commands have been uploaded and the satellite will perform the tasks automatically," says Mission controller B N Ramakrishna. 

There are two parallel circuits to start up the larger rocket motor; ISRO will use these two paths sequentially as part of plan A and plan B. In case this trial by fire of the big engine fails, the engineers even have a Plan C; they could use the tiny thrusters to slow down the satellite and still try to reach an orbit of Mars. 

The Mangalyaan is laced with eight small rockets and one big rocket. The bigger one has been on an extended slumber, like that of the sleeping demon 'Kumbhakaran'. 

But now, it will be woken up for four seconds, in what is bound to be the most risky operation for the ISRO.

timmy LEGEND

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India's Mars Orbiter, Mangalyaan Clears Crucial Test

 

India's Mars orbiter satellite, which has been on an arduous nine-month-long journey to the Red Planet, cleared a crucial test today. The main rocket engine of the satellite, which has been lying dormant for this extended period, was successfully test-fired.

The Indian Space Research organisation or ISRO confirmed that the engine had a "perfect burn' and the trajectory has also been corrected. Now all systems are set for the big event on September 24, the day Mangalyaan is set to enter the Martian orbit. (Also Watch: Mangalyaan Healthy, Team Cool, says ISRO Chief to NDTV)

Launched on November 5 last year, Mangalyaan has been successfully braving the rough weather in space. The satellite carries one large rocket motor and eight smaller thrusters. (Watch the Video)

ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan had earlier told NDTV, "We have done a lot of ground simulations and hope that the four-second test will slow the satellite down and correct its trajectory as well in a two-in-one operation". (Mangalyaan Faces Four-Second Trial by Fire)

The big rocket motor on board Mangalyaan had performed flawlessly in over two dozen earlier missions since 1992, and scientists were confident that this time too, things would go as per the plan.

"All commands have been uploaded and the satellite will perform the tasks automatically," Mission controller B N Ramakrishna had said.

There were two parallel circuits to start up the larger rocket motor; ISRO had used these two paths sequentially as part of plan A and plan B. In case the trial had failed, the engineers even had a Plan C to fall back on; they would have used the tiny thrusters to slow down the satellite and still try to reach an orbit of Mars.

The Mangalyaan is laced with eight small rockets and one big rocket. The bigger one had been on an extended slumber, one comparable to that of the sleeping demon 'Kumbhakaran'. But now, it has been 'woken up' for a few seconds in a risky, but successful, operation by the ISRO.

timmy LEGEND

timmy

Posted
  • Author
Posted

India's Mars Orbiter, Mangalyaan Clears Crucial Test

 

India's Mars orbiter satellite, which has been on an arduous nine-month-long journey to the Red Planet, cleared a crucial test today. The main rocket engine of the satellite, which has been lying dormant for this extended period, was successfully test-fired.

The Indian Space Research organisation or ISRO confirmed that the engine had a "perfect burn' and the trajectory has also been corrected. Now all systems are set for the big event on September 24, the day Mangalyaan is set to enter the Martian orbit. (Also Watch: Mangalyaan Healthy, Team Cool, says ISRO Chief to NDTV)

Launched on November 5 last year, Mangalyaan has been successfully braving the rough weather in space. The satellite carries one large rocket motor and eight smaller thrusters. (Watch the Video)

ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan had earlier told NDTV, "We have done a lot of ground simulations and hope that the four-second test will slow the satellite down and correct its trajectory as well in a two-in-one operation". (Mangalyaan Faces Four-Second Trial by Fire)

The big rocket motor on board Mangalyaan had performed flawlessly in over two dozen earlier missions since 1992, and scientists were confident that this time too, things would go as per the plan.

"All commands have been uploaded and the satellite will perform the tasks automatically," Mission controller B N Ramakrishna had said.

There were two parallel circuits to start up the larger rocket motor; ISRO had used these two paths sequentially as part of plan A and plan B. In case the trial had failed, the engineers even had a Plan C to fall back on; they would have used the tiny thrusters to slow down the satellite and still try to reach an orbit of Mars.

The Mangalyaan is laced with eight small rockets and one big rocket. The bigger one had been on an extended slumber, one comparable to that of the sleeping demon 'Kumbhakaran'. But now, it has been 'woken up' for a few seconds in a risky, but successful, operation by the ISRO.

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