Scientists from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) have successfully test-fired the main engine of the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft, also known as the Mangalyaan, on Monday as a trial prior to the spacecraft entering the orbit of the red planet on Wednesday, Sept. 24.
The test firing of the engine called 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM), which lasted nearly four seconds, took place at 2:30 PM albeit ISRO engineers and scientists had to wait for over 12 minutes for the confirmation because radio signals from Mangalyaan take over 700 seconds to reach the Earth.
"The 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) of India's Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, last fired on December 01, 2013, was successfully fired for a duration of 3.968 seconds at 1430 hrs IST today (September 22, 2014)," ISRO said in a statement.
The test firing serves as rehearsal for the event on Wednesday when the LAM engine will be fired simultaneously with eight other smaller liquid engines for 24 minutes to insert the Mangalyaan spacecraft into the red planet's orbit and the absence of hitches boosted confidence that ISRO's ambitious mission will be a success. Mangalyaan is the country's first interplanetary mission and is aimed at showcasing its capabilities in space technology.
"This was a critical test we had to overcome. The mission appears to be near successful now," said Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, a space security expert with New Delhi's Observer Research Foundation.
ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan said that the outcome of Monday's test has improved confidence levels on the $74-million space project that could establish India as a key player in space technology. The success of the mission would include India in the ranks of the United States, Europe and Russia, which have already orbited or landed a spacecraft on the red planet.
The Mangalyaan was launched on Nov. 5, 2013 with the objective to study the surface and mineral composition of the planet Mars. The spacecraft will also scan the Martian atmosphere for the chemical methane, which is associated with life on Earth.
Radhakrishnan, however, admitted that while there's a good chance that India's orbiter will successfully enter the Mars orbit; there are things that may just affect the success of the mission.
"We know now that we have the best chance since the launch of MOM to actually acquire the desired orbit," Radhakrishnan said. "Yet, we know that there are many things that still have to work as precisely as today and we are now focused on that."
