ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mangalyaan Just A Month Away From Rendezvous With Red Planet

The countdown of India's much talked-about Mars Orbiter Mission, better known as Mangalyaan, has begun with just a month to go before it is placed in orbit around the red planet on September 24.

According to Indian space agency ISRO's Facebook profile, the orbiter is nine million kilometres away from Mars and 189 million kilometres away from Earth. It also added that the orbiter will take 33 more days to complete its mission to Mars.

The engine firing for the crucial Mars Orbital Insertion (MOI) will take place in September to place India's first space voyager in orbit around Mars. The orbiter was launched on November 5, 2013 from India's spaceport at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota. It is ISRO's tried and tested warhorse.

The probe, which weighs about 1350 kilograms (2980 pounds), will fire its engines on September 24 to be placed into an elliptical orbit around Mars, approaching the closest at 377 kilometres and going as far away as 80,000 kilometres.

The probe did not even require the scheduled trajectory correction this month. It has been moving as planned by the ISRO. The last such manoeuvre was performed on June 11 by firing the spacecraft's thrusters for 16 seconds.

The Indian Deep Space Network on the outskirts of Bangalore and NASA JPL's Deep Space Network have been constantly monitoring the Mars Orbiter Mission.

The Mars orbiter has been designed and developed by ISRO at a cost of $69m. The probe will study the atmosphere and the soil of the planet.
(Image: ISRO)