Mission Objectives

One of the main objectives of the first Indian mission to Mars is to develop the
technologies required for design, planning, management and operations of an
interplanetary mission.

Following are the major objectives of the mission:

A. Technological Objectives:
Design and realisation of a Mars orbiter with a capability to survive and perform
Earth bound manoeuvres, cruise phase of 300 days, Mars orbit insertion /
capture, and on-orbit phase around Mars.
Deep space communication, navigation, mission planning and management.
Incorporate autonomous features to handle contingency situations.
B. Scientific Objectives:
Exploration of Mars surface features, morphology, mineralogy and Martian
atmosphere by indigenous scientific instruments.
Spacecraft Navigation
Trans Mars Injection (TMI), carried out on Dec 01, 2013 at 00:49 hrs (IST) has moved
the spacecraft in the Mars Transfer Trajectory (MTT).With TMI the Earth orbiting phase
of the spacecraft ended and the spacecraft is now on a course to encounter Mars after
a journey of about 10 months around the Sun

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C25, injected the Spacecraft into an
Elliptical Parking Orbit with a perigee of 250 km and an apogee of 23,550 km.
Further, six orbit raising manoeuvers gradually raised the apogee of the
spacecraft to 1,92,874 km, using the 440 N Liquid Engine on board.
The last manoeuver, termed as Trans Mars Injection (TMI), moved the
spacecraft in the Mars Transfer Trajectory (MTT). Spacecraft crosses Earths
Sphere of Influence (SOI) and enters heliocentric elliptic cruise phase.
A series of Trajectory Correction Manoeuvres (TCMs) are planned in cruise
phase, using Attitude and Orbit Control System (AOCS) thrusters to achieve
desired Mars arrival conditions.
At the end of the heliocentric phase, Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI) manoeuvre will
be carried out by firing the Liquid Engine onboard and the spacecraft will be
inserted into the intended Martian Orbit.
The spacecraft will focus on in-depth study of morphology of the Martian surface
and probe the composition of its atmosphere and the space environment.
Major Challenges

Thermal Environment
The bus needs to cope with a wide range of thermal environment, from Near Earth
conditions with Sun and Earth contributions (hot case) to Mars conditions where
eventually eclipses and reduced solar flux give rise to cold case issues.

The average solar flux at Mars orbit is 589 W/Sq.m, or about 42% of what is
experienced by an Earth-orbiting spacecraft. As a result of the eccentricity of Mars
orbit, however, the solar flux at Mars varies by +/- 19% over the Martian year, which is
considerably more than the 3.5% variation at Earth.


Radiation Environment
The main frame bus elements and payloads are basically designed for interplanetary
missions capable of operating in Earth Burn Manoeuvres (EBN), Mars Transfer
Trajectory (MTT) and Martian Orbit (MO) environments. The bus unit components are
selected with respect to a cumulated dose of 6 krads below 22 AWG aluminium
shielding. Parts have been considered as directly suitable, if they have been evaluated
successfully up to 12 krads (margin factor of 2).

Communication Systems
The communication systems for the Mars mission are responsible for the challenging
task of communication management up to a distance of 400 million km. It consists of
Telemetry, Tracking and Commanding (TTC) systems and Data transmission systems in
S-band and a Delta Differential One-way Ranging (-DOR) Transmitter for ranging.

The TTC system comprises of coherent TTC Transponders, TWTAs (Travelling Wave
Tube Amplifiers), a near omni coverage antenna system, a High Gain Antenna system,
Medium Gain Antenna and corresponding feed networks.

The High Gain Antenna system is based on a single 2.2 meter reflector illuminated by a
feed at S-band.

Power System
One of the major challenges in the design of power system is due to the larger distance
of the satellite from the Sun. The power generation in Mars orbit is reduced to nearly
50% to 35% compared to Earths orbit.

The power bus configuration comprises of a single wing of solar array with 7.56 m2
area generating about 840 W during sunlit and normal incidence in Martian orbit, and a
36 Ampere-Hour Lithium-Ion battery supports the power load during launch phase,
initial attitude acquisition, eclipse, Earth burns, MOI, safe mode and data transmission
phases.


Proplusion System
Proplusion System consists of one 440N Liquid Engine and 8 numbers of 22N thrusters.
The propellant tanks have combined storage capacity up to 852 kg propellant. The 22N
thrusters are used for attitude control during the various activities of the mission like,
orbit raising using liquid engine, attitude maintenance, Martian orbit maintenance (if
any) and momentum dumping.

As the critical operation of Martian Orbit Insertion with Liquid Engine burn occurs after
10 months of launch, suitable isolation techniques are adopted to prevent fuel/ oxidiser
migration issues.



On-board Autonomy
Given that the Round-trip Light Time (RLT) from Earth to Mars can vary anywhere
between 6 to 43 minutes, it would be impractical to micromanage a mission from Earth.
Due to this communications delay, mission support personnel on Earth cannot easily
monitor and control all the spacecraft systems in real-time basis. Therefore, the
configuration includes the use of on-board autonomy to automatically manage both the
nominal and non-nominal scenarios on-board the spacecraft.
Payloads
Mars Orbiter Mission carries five scientific payloads to observe Martian surface,
atmosphere and exosphere extending up to 80,000 km for a detailed understanding of
the evolution of that planet, especially the related geologic and the possible biogenic
processes on that interesting planet. These payloads consist of a camera, two
spectrometers, a radiometer and a photometer. Together, they have a weight of about
15 kg.

Payload
Primary
Objective
Wei
ght
(Kg)
Mars Colour
Camera
(MCC)
Optical
imaging
1.27
Thermal
Infrared
Imaging
Spectromete
r(TIS)
Map surface
composition
and
mineralogy
3.2
Methane
Sensor for
Mars (MSM)
Detection of
Methane
presence
2.94
Mars
Enospheric
Neutral
Composition
Analyser
(MENCA)
Study of the
neutral
composition of
Martian upper
atmosphere
3.56
Lyman Alpha
Photometer
(LAP)
Study of
Escape
processes of
Martian upper
atmosphere
through
Deuterium/Hy
drogen
1.97



Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP)
Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP) is an absorption cell photometer. It measures the
relative abundance of deuterium and hydrogen from lyman-alpha emission in the
Martian upper atmosphere (typically Exosphere and exobase). Measurement of D/H
(Deuterium to Hydrogen abundance Ratio) allows us to understand especially the loss
process of water from the planet.


Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM)
MSM is designed to measure Methane (CH4) in the Martian atmosphere with PPB
accuracy and map its sources. Data is acquired only over illuminated scene as the
sensor measures reflected solar radiation. Methane concentration in the Martian
atmosphere undergoes spatial and temporal variations.


Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA)
MENCA is a quadruple mass spectrometer capable of analyzing the neutral composition
in the range of 1 to 300 amu with unit mass resolution. The heritage of this payload is
from Chandras Altitudinal Composition Explorer (CHACE) payload. MENCA is a
quadrupole mass spectrometer based scientific payload, capable of measuring relative
abundances of neutral constituents in the mass range of 1 to 300 amu, with a unit
mass resolution.


Mars Color Camera (MCC)
This tri-color Mars color camera gives images & information about the surface features
and composition of Martian surface. They are useful to monitor the dynamic events and
weather of Mars. MCC will also be used for probing the two satellites of Mars-Phobos &
Deimos. It also provides the context information for other science payloads.


Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS)
TIS measure the thermal emission and can be operated during both day and night.
Temperature and emissivity are the two basic physical parameters estimated from
thermal emission measurement. Many minerals and soil types have characteristic
spectra in TIR region. TIS can map surface composition and mineralogy of Mars.
Updates
Date

24-
09-
2014
Spacecraft Successfully enters Martian Orbit
Burn Start of Main Liquid Engine Confirmed
The radio link between the Spacecraft and Earth is now blocked by
Mars.
Eclipse starts - The Spacecraft is in shadow of Mars
Forward rotation starts
Changed Over to Medium Gain Antenna
22-
09-
2014
Test Firing of Main Liquid Engine of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft is
Successful. More..
17-
09-
2014
Uploading of commands for Fourth Trajectory Correction Manoeuver
and test-firing of Main Liquid Engine (scheduled for Sep 22, 2014) is in
progress.
16-
09-
2014
Time-tagged commands to execute Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI)
uploaded.
15-
09-
2014
Time-tagged commands to execute Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI)
uploading and verification in progress.
Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI) is scheduled on Sep 24, 2014 early
morning. More..
12-
06-
2014
The second Trajectory Correction Manoeuvre (TCM-2) of India's Mars
Orbiter Spacecraft was successfully performed on June 11, 2014 at
1630 hrs IST. TCM-2 was performed by firing the spacecrafts 22
Newton thrusters for a duration of 16 seconds.
At present, the radio distance between the Spacecraft and the Earth is
102 million km. A radio signal from the Earth to the Spacecraft now
takes about 340 seconds. The spacecraft so far has traveled a distance
of 466 million km as part of its total Journey of 680 million km.
ISRO is continuously monitoring Mars Orbiter Spacecraft using Indian
Deep Space Network (IDSN). The spacecraft and its five scientific
instruments are in good health.
09-
04-
2014
Mars Orbiter Spacecraft Crosses Half Way Mark of its Journey. More..
11-
02-
2014
100 Days Of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft. More..
11-
12-
The first Trajectory Correction Manoeuvre (TCM) of Spacecraft was
2013
carried out successfully at 06:30 hrs (IST) by firing the 22 Newton
Thrusters for a duration of 40.5 seconds. The spacecraft is travelling at
a distance of about 29 lakh (2.9 million) km away from Earth.
04-
12-
2013
Spacecraft has traversed beyond the Sphere of Influence (SOI) of
Earth extending about 9,25,000 km at around 1:14 hrs (IST) on Dec 4,
2013.
02-
12-
2013
Spacecraft has travelled a distance of 5,36,000 km by 17:00 hrs (IST)
of Dec 2, 2013. It has crossed the distance to Moon's orbit around
Earth (mean distance 3,85,000 km) this morning.
01-
12-
2013
Medium Gain Antenna of the Mars Orbiter Spacecraft is powered for
long distance communication, subsequent to successful Trans Mars
Injection (TMI) manoeuvre
Trans Mars Injection (TMI) operations completed successfully. The
liquid engine burn time was 1328.89 sec and the imparted incremental
velocity was 647.96 m/sec.
Trans Mars Injection (TMI) operations in progress.
Trans Mars Injection (TMI) operation began at 00:49 hrs (IST) on
Sunday Dec 01, 2013.
Forward rotation of spacecraft, to put it into the right orientation to
perform Trans Mars Injection (TMI) operation has been completed
successfully at 00:30 hrs IST on Dec 1, 2013
16-
11-
2013
The fifth orbit raising manoeuvre of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, starting at
01:27 hrs(IST) on Nov 16, 2013, with a burn Time of 243.5 seconds
has been successfully completed. The observed change in Apogee is
from 118642km to 192874km.
12-
11-
2013
Fourth supplementary orbit raising manoeuvre of Mars Orbiter
Spacecraft, starting at 05:03:50 hrs(IST) on Nov 12, 2013, with a burn
Time of 303.8 seconds has been successfully completed. The observed
change in Apogee is from 78276km to 118642km.
11-
11-
2013
In the fourth orbit-raising operation conducted this morning (Nov 11,
2013), the apogee (farthest point to Earth) of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft
was raised from 71,623 km to 78,276 km by imparting an incremental
velocity of 35 metres/second (as against 130 metres/second originally
planned to raise apogee to about 100,000 [1 lakh] km). The spacecraft
is in normal health. More..
09-
11-
2013
The third orbit raising manoeuvre of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, starting
at 02:10:43 hrs(IST) on Nov 09, 2013, with a burn time of 707
seconds has been successfully completed. The observed change in
Apogee is from 40186km to 71636km.
08-
11-
2013
The second orbit raising manoeuvre of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft,
starting at 02:18:51 hrs(IST) on Nov 08, 2013, with a burn time of
570.6 seconds has been successfully completed. The observed change
in Apogee is from 28814 km to 40186 km.
07-
11-
2013
The first orbit raising manoeuvre of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, starting at
01:17 hrs(IST) on Nov 07, 2013 has been successfully
completed More..
05-
11-
2013
PSLV-C25, in its twenty fifth flight, successfully launches Mars Orbiter
Mission Spacecraft from SDSC SHAR Sriharikota