Mars Orbiter Mission

• 1. Genesis And Approval

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  In November 2008, G. Madhavan Nair stood before the public to announce an uncrewed mission to Mars. This marked the first official acknowledgment of India's ambition to reach the Red Planet. The concept for this mission began with a feasibility study conducted in 2010 by the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology. That study followed the successful launch of the Chandrayaan-1 lunar satellite in 2008. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave his final approval on the 3rd of August 2012 after ISRO completed all required studies. The total project cost was estimated at up to 450 Crore rupees. This budget included the satellite itself and funds allocated for ground station upgrades used for other projects.

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• 2. Launch And Maneuvers

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  The Mars Orbiter Mission probe lifted off from the First Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre on the 5th of November 2013. A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle designated C25 carried the spacecraft into space at 09:08 UTC. The launch window had been open since the 28th of October 2013 but faced delays due to poor weather affecting tracking ships in the Pacific Ocean. The probe spent about a month orbiting Earth while performing seven apogee-raising maneuvers. These burns utilized the Oberth effect to gradually increase altitude before trans-Mars injection occurred on the 30th of November 2013. The spacecraft traveled approximately 780 million kilometers over a 298-day transit period. It finally entered Martian orbit on the 24th of September 2014 after a complex series of orbital adjustments.

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• 3. Innovations And Design

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  ISRO engineers reconfigured the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter bus structure to create the MOM spacecraft. The development process took a record 15 months to complete. The satellite's dry mass was 1,350 kilograms including 1,500 kilograms of propellant at launch. A liquid fuel engine with a thrust of 440 newtons handled both orbit raising and Mars insertion. Eight smaller thrusters managed attitude control during the journey. The propulsion system used monomethylhydrazine and dinitrogen tetroxide as bipropellants. This indigenous design allowed India to become the first national space agency to reach Mars using its own technology. The project cost roughly 450 Crore rupees making it the least expensive Mars mission in history. Prime Minister Narendra Modi later noted the cost equated to just seven rupees per kilometer.

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• 4. Scientific Instruments

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  Five scientific instruments flew aboard the Mars Orbiter Mission probe. The Lyman-Alpha Photometer measured deuterium and hydrogen abundance in the upper atmosphere. The Methane Sensor for Mars mapped surface albedo despite a design flaw preventing methane detection. Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer monitored atmospheric turbidity and mineral composition day or night. The Mars Colour Camera captured images of dust storms and weather patterns on the Martian surface. The Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser studied neutral particles ranging from one to three hundred atomic mass units. These tools explored surface features, morphology, and mineralogy while studying volatile escape into outer space. Scientists also observed the Martian moon Phobos and identified asteroid orbits during the transfer trajectory.

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• 5. Operational History

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  MOM completed its initial six-month mission life on the 24th of March 2015 but received an extension. ISRO officials stated the spacecraft had enough propellant to continue orbiting for several years. By the 19th of May 2017, the orbiter reached 1,000 days in orbit around Mars. It completed 388 orbits and relayed more than 715 images back to Earth. On the 24th of September 2018, MOM celebrated four years in orbit despite a designed lifespan of only half a year. The probe sent two terabytes of imaging data by the 24th of September 2019. Controllers altered the orbit multiple times to avoid eclipses and protect the battery systems. A communication blackout occurred between 6 and the 22nd of June 2015 when Mars passed behind the Sun from Earth's perspective.

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• 6. Eclipse And Termination

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  In April 2022, the spacecraft entered a seven-hour eclipse period that it was not designed to survive. This prolonged darkness depleted the attitude control fuel required to keep the antenna pointed at Earth. On the 2nd of October 2022, reports confirmed irrecoverable loss of communications with the orbiter. ISRO released a statement the following day declaring all attempts to revive the mission had failed. The loss of fuel prevented any further attitude adjustments needed to sustain battery power. An ISRO conference on the 27th of September had previously discussed this risk while commemorating the eight-year anniversary of insertion into Mars orbit. The probe likely ran out of propellant during the extended eclipse season and could no longer be recovered.

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• 7. Recognition And Legacy

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  China referred to India's successful Mars Orbiter Mission as the Pride of Asia in 2014. The team won the National Space Society's 2015 Space Pioneer Award for science and engineering. An illustration of the spacecraft appeared on the reverse side of the Indian 2000 rupee banknote. A photo taken by MOM served as the cover image for the November 2016 issue of National Geographic magazine. India became the first Asian nation to reach Martian orbit and the fourth space agency overall to do so. The mission demonstrated that a national agency could succeed on its maiden attempt using indigenous technology. Cultural adaptations followed including the Hindi film Mission Mangal released in 2019. Plans are underway for a follow-up mission called Mars Lander Mission scheduled for launch in 2027.

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