The Mars Orbiter Mission, also called Mangalyaan was a space probe orbiting Mars since 24 September 2014. The Rs 450 crore Mars Orbiter Mission was launched on 5 November 2013 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Its main objective was to study the atmosphere of Mars. Dr S Somanath, the chief of the country’s space agency Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), said the unmanned spacecraft had entered the end of its lifecycle. Mars orbiter lost connection with the ground station and is non-recoverable pointing towards the official end of the Mangalyaan. The loss of contact happened as a result of a long eclipse in April 2022, the national space agency said.
Mangalyaan Mars Orbiter (Source: HT Tech)
The craft ran out of fuel and its battery drained after remaining in orbit around Mars for eight years. Despite being designed for six months, it lived for about eight years in the orbit of Mars. Netizens paid rich tributes to the mission which put India on the list of countries with interplanetary missions.
"Mangalyaan, A Mission that bought us huge respect, glory, attention and willpower to get far ahead in space research comes to an end after 8 years. HATS OFF #ISRO," wrote a user.
INDIA’S MARS ORBITER MISSION ENDS AFTER 8 long years (Source: OpIndia)
On September 27, 2022, ISRO organised a one-day national meeting to commemorate the Mars Orbiter Mission, as Mangalyaan completed eight years in Martian orbit. During the national meeting, ISRO deliberated that the fuel must have been exhausted, and therefore, the desired attitude pointing could not be achieved for sustained power generation. The mission could capture the full disc image of Mars because of its elliptical orbit and generate an atlas of Mars with the help of the colour camera onboard the mission, ISRO further said in its statement. The Mars mission had already exceeded expectations as it remained operational for over eight years when it was designed for a six-month-long mission around the Martian orbit.
India’s first groundbreaking interplanetary mission ends as Mars spacecraft goes dark (source: Independent)
"Right now, there is no fuel left. The satellite battery has drained," sources in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told PTI. "The link has been lost".
ISRO came out with an 'Announcement of Opportunity' (AO) for the future Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM-2) in 2016 but officials acknowledged that it's still on the drawing board, with the coming 'Gaganyaan', Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya - L1 projects being in the space agency's current priority list. The AO had said, "It is now planned to have the next orbiter mission around Mars for a future launch opportunity. Proposals are solicited from interested scientists within India for experiments onboard an orbiter mission around Mars (MOM-2), to address relevant scientific problems and topics." "Not in the approved list as of now", a senior ISRO official told PTI on being asked about an update on the MOM-2.
ISRO said the Mangalyaan mission would be regarded as a remarkable technological and scientific feat. And we completely agree to that! Hats off, ISRO!!
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