India’s Mission to the Red Planet

India’s Mission to the Red Planet

Mars has always been a world shrouded in mystery . Mars was thought to be a bright red star shining in the night sky. Sophisticated technology and modern space missions have provided scientists with a wealth of knowledge and information. Numerous questions remain unanswered. Although Mars shared certain characteristics with the other planets, sky watchers observed that it was unique in several ways. Because of its peculiar behavior, along with its fiery red color, Mars was associated with war, violence, danger, and death. As a result, some ancient peoples named the planet after their gods of war. The Greeks called it Ares, and the Romans called it Mars.

 Space missions are extremely expensive, but scientists are convinced that Mars exploration is crucial and must continue. That is because Mars is quite similar to Earth, and about 4.6 billion years ago, when the two planets were formed, they may have been almost identical. Geologists believe there was a time when Mars had a warmer and wetter climate, vast quantities of surface water, and an atmosphere that was much like Earth’s. Over the course of its history, however, Mars has undergone such drastic changes. Today, the planet’s surface is dry and lifeless, its atmosphere is unfit for human life, and its average daily temperature is more than even the coldest place on Earth. What caused these drastic changes? Is  Earth destined for the same fate? By continuing to explore Mars, scientists can gain a much greater understanding of the red planet, as well as insight into what the future may hold for Earth.

Even though it is doubtful that life exists on Mars today, was there a time when it did? If so, what happened to it? The absence of living things is likely related to the lack of water on the planet, which is another unsolved mystery. Scientists have concrete proof that water once ran freely on Mars, but there appears to be no trace of surface water now. What caused it to disappear? Recent missions to Mars have provided direct evidence for the presence of hydrated minerals on the exposed surface and of water at sub-surface regions. Possible presence of methane has been proposed based on limited observations. Understanding the loss of martian atmosphere, and in particular, carbon dioxide and water, is also essential for understanding the  evoution of martian atmosphere. The Indian Mars mission includes payloads to obtain data covering all the above important aspects that will advance our current understanding of the planet Mars.

Mars orbiter mission(MOM)

Mars orbiter mission is ISRO’s first interplanetary mission to planet Mars. The orbiter is designed to orbit Mars in an elliptical orbit to collect scientific data. The mission is primarily a technology demponstration mission with some important scientific objectives also. The orbiter will study the physical features of Mars and the Martian atmosphere.

 

Mars Orbiter Spacecraft

The spacecraft configuration is a balanced mix of design from flight proven IRS/INSAT/Chandrayaan-1 . Modifications required for Mars mission are in the areas of Communication, Power, Propulsion systems (mainly related to Liquid Engine restart after nearly 10 months) and on-board autonomy.

Mission Objectives:

Develop the technologies required for design, planning, management and operations of an interplanetary mission ,orbit maneuvers to transfer the spacecraft from an elliptical Earth orbit to a heliocentric trajectory and finally insert it into Mars orbit ,development of force models and algorithms for orbit and attitude computations and analyses,navigation in all mission phases ,maintain the spacecraft in all phases of the Mission meeting Power,Communications, Thermal and Payload requirements, incorporate autonomous features to handle contingency situations .The scientific objectives set for the Mars Orbiter Mission are : Study climate, geology, origin and evolution of Mars and to study sustainability of life on the planet.

Payloads aimed at un-derstanding the evolution of Mars are:

(i) Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP) for estimation of Deuterium /Hydrogen ratio based on absorption spectra of Deuterium and Hydrogen. Itconsists of an UV detector equipped with gas filled pure molecular hydrogen and deuterium cells with tungsten filaments that are located between an objective lens and a detector. Deuterium, also known as heavy hydrogen, is one of two stable isotopes of hydrogen, and contains one proton and one neutron in its nucleus while the common hydrogen isotope (Protium) has no neutron in the nucleus. Determining the D/H ratio in the atmosphere allows scientists to learn more about the atmospheric environments on Mars with a special focus on atmospheric loss.

(ii) Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM): Methane on Mars can have a number of origins. When methane was first discovered on Mars, many saw the presence of it as a clear indication of life or microbial activity, but aside from biological processes, methane can have a number of origins. Geological processes such as volcanism or reactions involving iron oxide, water and carbon dioxide can produce large amounts of the gas. In addition to these two traditionally known origins on atmospheric methane, both, on Earth and on Mars, scientists have a number of other theories. In recent years, exogenous sources have been studied. Methane being produced by micro-meteorites and interplanetary dust particles that enter the thin Martian atmosphere and settle on the surface. The instrument  has a  sensor to measure methane at several ppb level.

(iii) Thermal Infrared imaging Spectrometer (TIS): TIS will provide map of composition and mineralogy of the martian surface. It uses a 120×160 element bo-lometer array as detector and consist of fore optics, slit, collimating optics, grating and reimaging optics. The knowledge on type of minerals present in any planetary system provides the information on the conditions under which minerals are formed and process by which they are weathered. Much of what we know about the elemental composition of Mars comes from orbiting spacecraft and landers. Most of these spacecraft carry spectrometers(A spectrometer is an instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify materials) and other instruments to measure the surface composition of Mars.

(iv) Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyzer (MENCA): The objective of MENCA is to study the exospheric neutral density and composition above the Martian surface.The instrument examines radial,diurnal,and seasonal variations in the Martian exosphere.with Mangalyaan in its operational orbit, MENCA is to estimate the upper limits of the neutral density distribution and composition around mars.Studying Martian exosphere will provide valuable data on the present conditions A quadrapole mass spectrometer be employed to study the neutral composition of the martian upper atmosphere.

(v) Mars Colour Camera (MCC): Imaging of topogra-phy of the martian surface.. It provides images in the visual spectrum. Acquires color images of planet Mars. MCC covers a spectral range of 400 to 700 nanometers – the visible spectrum..At periapsis( near Mars) MCC provides images with a 50 by 50-Kilometer frame size and a resolution of 25 meters per pixel. At apoapsis( distant from Mars) the camera provides a wide field of view of 8,000 by 8,000 Kilometers. Imagery provided by MCC are used to study Martian surface topography.

Mission

The mission consisted of three phases. During the geocentric phase, the spacecraft was launched to the ellipltic parking orbit by the PSLV C25, rocket. Thjen it was gradually manouvered to a hyperbolic trajectory and it escaped the Earth sphere of influence which is upto 918347 Kms. The Mars orbiter entered the heliocentric orbit. To reach Mars with minimum energy consuption Hohmann transfer orbit was used. This is the orbit used to send a spacecraft to Mars with least amount of fuel. During the journey to Mars two trajectory corrections were carried out. The spacecraft arrived at the Martian sphere of influence at 573473 Kms in a hyperbolic trajectory. At the time the spacecraft reached the closest point to Mars it was captured into the planned orbit around Mars through a Mars orbit insertion manouvere. On November 5^th 2013: PSLV-C25, , successfully launched Mars Orbiter Mission from Sriharikota . Subsequently five orbit raising manouvers were carriedout.
 Spacecraft has traversed beyond the Sphere of Influence (SOI) of Earth extending about on Dec 4, 2013.
In between two trajectory corrections were carriedout.
.On September 2^nd the test Firing of Main Liquid Engine of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft was successful.On 24^th September  Mars orbiter  entered the Martian orbit.  The orbit of the spacecraft around Mars is  423 X 80000 Kms  elliptical . It takes approximately three Earth days for one complete orbit. Mars Orbiter statrted  sending pictures within hours of its orbital insertion. The total cost of the mission is Rs 450 crores.

On October 19^th Comet A1 2013 Siding Spring will pass near Mars at a distance of 132000Kms. The atmospheres of the Comet and Mars will have an encounter and this is a n important event to observe. The comet may harbour methane and water which will be studied by the Mars orbiter. Nasa’s Maven orbiter reached Mars on 22^nd September. The objective of that spacecraft is to study the Martian atmosphere and the effects of solar wind in the loss of atmosphere. It will also observe the comet closely.

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