India is about to become the fourth country ever to send a successful mission to Mars when its Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) officially enters the orbit of the red planet this week.
India will be the first Asian nation to enter Mars' orbit with their spacecraft, dubbed Mangalyaan. However, the nation is out to set another record: if successful, India will be the first country to ever succeed in its first attempt at entering Mars' orbit, a major accomplishment as only half of all missions ever sent to Mars have been successful.
Its 10-month journey has it arriving at Mars at 10:11 p.m. EDT on Tues., Sept. 23. Before that, the spacecraft's engines will fire for a full 24 minutes to maneuver itself into orbit.
So far, everything is going smoothly, according to tweets from the India Space Research Organization (ISRO).
"Our navigator's calculations shows that the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) has entered the gravitational sphere of the influence of Mars," tweets the agency. "Main liquid engine test firing successful."
#MarsOrbiter has just entered the Martian neighborhood. pic.twitter.com/hwz3DN5KFw
— ISRO (@isro) September 22, 2014
The spacecraft, which weighs nearly 3,000 pounds, carries five scientific instruments, including sensors for scanning Mars' atmosphere for methane, a gas generally produced by living creatures. Its equipment also includes a camera and thermal imaging spectrometer that will map the surface of the planet.
Now that the spacecraft is near Mars' orbit, it will undergo some complicated maneuvers to get there. This includes firing a rocket in reverse, which reduces the spacecraft's speed and sends it on the proper trajectory that results in its entry into Mars' orbit. This will take about 24 minutes, during which time MOM will experience a communication blackout. Once the maneuver is complete, communications on the spacecraft will resume and the ISRO will know if their mission was a success.
The ISRO is airing a live webcast during this time, starting at 9:15 p.m. EDT on Tues., Sept. 23 on the official ISRO website.
MOM joins three other satellites currently orbiting the planet, including the European Space Agency's Mars Express and NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey and Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN). There are also two rovers currently on the surface of the planet: NASA's Curiosity and Opportunity.
India's mission is receiving much encouragement from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
"Good Luck MOM! From your JPL family!" says a message from the organization.
