The primary objective of the Mars Orbiter Mission is to showcase India's rocket launch systems, spacecraft-building and operations capabilities. 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 realization of a Mars orbiter with a capability to perform Earth-bound manoeuvres, cruise phase of 300 days, Mars orbit insertion / capture and on-orbit phase around Mars
- Deep-space communication, navigation, mission planning and management
- Incorporate autonomous features to handle contingency situations
The secondary objective is to explore Mars' surface features, morphology, mineralogy and Martian atmosphere (presence of water, gasses like Methane) using indigenous scientific instruments. The probe is traveling at a speed of 82000 km/hr. The distance between earth and mars is 22.5 Cr km
Earlier similar attempts have been made by USA, Russia and European Space Agency (ESA). China and Japan have also attempted but the Chinese mission failed in 2011 and the Japanese got aborted. A total of 51 launches have been made out of which 1/3rd have been successful ( 4 landed and 7 in orbit). It is also to be noted that none of them have been successful in the first attempt. In case India succeeds, it is going to be a unique milestone.
As on 22nd September 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 by successfully firing the liquid engine for 04 seconds.
To enter Mars Orbit Mangalyaan needs to be slowed down from 22 km/sec to 4.4 km/sec by firing the main liquid engine for 24 minutes on September 24. This step is very crucial to enter the gravitational sphere of the red planet. The MOM will collect data for next 6 months to study and research various aspects of Mars