The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) or Mangalyaan is a space probe which was launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on November 5, 2013. It was India’s first interplanetary mission and made India the fourth space agency in the world to send a probe into Martian orbit after Roscosmos, NASA and the European Space Agency. The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved the project on August 3, 2012.
Mangalyaan was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh with the help of a PSLV rocket. A network of ground stations continuously tracked the launch vehicle till the probe was separated from it. The Spacecraft Control Centre in Bangalore controlled its operations post separation. Two ships equipped with Ship Borne Terminals (SBT) were also deployed in the South Pacific Ocean to track the mission.
After a 298-day transit period, it was put into Martian orbit on September 24, 2014, making India the first Asian country and the first country ever to succeed on its maiden attempt. Mangalyaan is also remarkable for being the cheapest mission to Mars till date. The success of Mangalyaan firmly placed India in an elite global space club. Interestingly China refers to Mangalyaan as the ‘Pride of Asia’!
The scheduled span of the mission was 6 months but the orbiter is still orbiting Mars. This year marks 9 years since Mangalyaan was put into Martian orbit.
Picture Credit : Google
