India’s first Mars Orbiter Mission will bid adieu to the Earth’s orbit soon after the intervening midnight of Saturday-Sunday on a 300-day voyage to the red planet.
launched by PSlV-C25 on November 5 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, the Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft has been orbiting the Earth, increasing its farthest point through six orbit-raising manoeuvre controlled by the ISRO ground station in Bangalore.
“Some 250 scientists are working on the last big exercise before the spacecraft leaves the earth’s orbit. It should be done before you wake up on Sunday,” ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan said on Saturday.
Through six orbit raising exercises, scientists have brought the apogee (the spacecraft’s farthest point from Earth) from the initial 25,000km to 1.92 lakh km.
At 9.45am on Saturday, scientists at the Satellite Control Centre loaded the commands to the spacecraft which would fire on it own to increase velocity. “The last thrust will impart a delta velocity of 647.87metres per second,” said Radhakrishnan.