Today, the 24th of September, 2014, will forever be remembered as one of the days that saw history being made. The Mars Orbiter Mission, also known as Mangalyaan is India, has successfully reached the Martian orbit, in its very first, maiden attempt to do so. This is truly spectacular, since it's the first time any space research body in the world, has been successful in reaching the Martian orbit on its own, at the first attempt.
The Mangalyaan (Mars-craft) was launched on 5th November, 2013. It carried a suite of 5 kg of scientific equipments, and attempts to study the upper Martian atmosphere and minerals on the surface of Mars. It is being monitored and guided by the IDSN (Indian Deep Space Network), which is equivalent to the Deep Space Network operated by NASA.
MOM, why the hype?
Out of 51 missions sent to the Martian orbit, only 21 have been successful. Besides, no country had previously been successful in doing this feat in the first attempt, this is what makes the MOM so important.
But in addition, MOM is also the most cost-effective and economical deep space mission in the recent times. The US's MAVEN craft, that was launched alongside MOM, costs around 10 times more than MOM. As Business Insider notes, "The $74 million bill for India’s Mars Orbiter Mission is the lowest compared to missions of other space agencies. For instance, NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN's (MAVEN), which reached Mars on September 21, cost was $617 million".
BBC additionally notes that MOM is "the cheapest inter-planetary mission ever to be undertaken by the world".
This amount to only a meagre Rs. 4.00 per person. And it's less than the cost for organizing an IPL (Indian Premiere League, a nationwide cricket match series held annually). It's significantly less that budgets of hi-fi Hollywood movies like Pirates of the Caribbean III.
A brief history of ISRO
I969: ISRO is established on the 15th of August, and brought under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), India.
1972: The Indian government establishes the Indian Space Commission and Department of Space (DoS). ISRO is brought under the umbrella of the DoS. DoS reports direct to the Prime MInister, and is an otherwise independent body, securing flexibility in the operations of ISRO.
1975: ISRO is brought under direct control of the Prime Minister, and also launches its first ever indigenously built satellite, the Aryabhata, named after the great Indian mathematician who had developed the Indo-Arabic number system (that we use today).
1979: India's second satellite, Bhaskara I, is launched.
1980: ISRO successfully launches Rohini I on the indigenously built SLV (Satellite Launch Vehicle).
1983: The Rohini 3 telecommunications satellite is launched successfully.
1984: With Soviet collaboration, the Indian astronaut, Rakesh Sharma, becomes the first Indian to reach and spend 7 days in space.
1992: Following two failed attempts to use the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle ASLV), ISRO tastes success with INSAT-2, the indigenously built geostationary satellite.
1999: - More powerful Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), for the first time, launches 3 satellites in one ago. The PSLV could initially lift 1000 kg payload to a Sun-synchronous polar orbit.
2001: The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) is tested successfully, with the initial capacity to lift 2500 kg load to a geosynchronous orbit. GSLV enabled India to do lift a series of weather and remote sensing satellites, and it is what powered India's dreams of the Mars exploration.
2008: Chandrayaan I, India's first unmanned Lunar orbiter, is successful, and it becomes the first orbiter to detect the existence of water on moon.
2013: Mangalyaan, India's Mars Orbiter Mission, is launched.
2014: Manganyaan, as of today, successfully reaches the Martian orbit, and creates history for the world. ISRO becomes the first organization to successfully reach the Martian orbit in the first attempt, as well as the first Asian organization ever to do so.
ISRO's Future projects
Several projects have been undertaken by the ISRO, and are under various stages of implementation. Many of these are uniquely important, such as the celebrated Aditya I mission that is set to be implemented by 2017.
Some of these projects are:
1. Chandrayaan II: Following the success of Chandrayaan I, ISRO aims to send a second probe to the Lunar surface, using the GSLV system. It will also include a Lunar rover, alongside a more sophisticated orbiter. The primary aim of this mission would be to study the gradual evolution of the earth's satellite, as well as its origins.
2. Aditya I: Aditya I will be India's first SEP (Solar Exploration Probe). It will contain the coronagraph modules to study the CME (Coronal Mass Ejections) and the formation and development of CME (Coronal Magnetic Field).
3. Venus Explorer: ISRO is on its way of launching the first Indian Venus explorer. It will be launched by 2016, to study the weather patterns and overall climatic system of Venus.
4. Equipments: A number of new and more powerful launch vehicles and other scientific instruments are being designed by ISRO. Some of these are the GSLV Mk-III, RLV-TD (Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator) and SCRE II (Space Capsule Recovery Experiment II).
References
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Image credits: TOI, , Business Standard, ISRO & Wikimedia
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