Mars Orbiter Mission launched successfully in India
Posted on: 05/Nov/2013 4:22:51 PM
Today at 2.38 pm. India successfully launched the Mars Orbiter Mission, its first inter planetary mission after the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C25 successfully lifted off with the satellite from Sriharikota. The spacecraft will now move to an elliptical orbit around the earth for around 25 days before leaving on 30 November for a 300-day journey to Mars. The launch vehicle for the Mars Orbiter shuttle, the PSLV C25, is a 44.4m-tall rocket which is currently covered by a 76m-tall mobile service tower. Usually, any satellite launch by PSLV takes around 20 minutes after the launch to put the satellite into the orbit, but for this mission the orbiter would be placed into the orbit after 45 minutes.
The five payloads of the shuttle India will launch later on Tuesday, including a Lyman alpha photometer to gather data on the loss process of water from the planet, a Mars Colour Camera, which will give images and information about the surface features of the Martian surface, and a thermal infrared imaging spectrometer to measure thermal emission.
The shuttle will also contain a methane sensor that can detect signs of life on the red planet, one of the important objectives of the mission.
The US ambassador to India, Nancy Powell, was also present to witness the event.
