•• Mars

Mars and
andits
itsproperties
properties
•• Various
Various missions
missionstotoMars
Mars
•• Mangalyaan
MangalyaanMission
Mission

Mangalyaan - 1
Mangalyaan - 1
 MANGALYAAN

Mars, popularly known as the red planet is the fourth planet

in the solar system with two natural satellites: Phobos and
Deimos. Mars is one of the nearest planet to Earth that can
serve as potential support for life and communication for
deep space exploration. Mars also follows an elliptical orbit
around the Sun similar to Earth, so the distance between
Earth and Mars varies along the orbit with respect to time.

Fig. 1: Mars image captured by

Mangalyaan, ISRO.

The closest distance between Mars and Earth is 54.6 million kilometers.
1 million = 1,000,000 and 54.6 million km = 54,600,000 km. Well, that is a big
number with many zeroes. However, Mars is the next closest distant planet after
Venus, with 38 million kilometers.

One might wonder why to go to Mars

instead of the nearest Venus searching
for life support. Well, the Habitable
zone is the answer to that question.
The habitable zone is the region that
provides the optimal temperature,
pressure and other essential conditions
for survival. In the solar system,
Venus, Earth and Mars are in the
habitable zone, with Venus and Mars
at extreme ends. This means Venus is
too hot to survive, and Mars is too cold
to stay.
Fig. 2: Habitable zone illustration. (Credits: NASA Astrobiology)

Moreover, the habitable zone is not constant forever. Sun’s gravity field is very strong that it
keeps everything in orbit that is within the solar system. Because of that force, every planet
moves towards the Sun a bit closer as time progress. Along with the Sun’s gravity field in mind,
one needs to take account of the Sun’s evolution into the Red Giant phase. Sun’s size,
temperature, and other characteristics will be different, affecting the Habitable zone. Though
these changes take billions of years, it is always better to be prepared in advance!

Did you know:

Earth moves approximately 1.5 cm closer to the Sun every year.

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Considering all the above points, Mars is the best place to have a future settlement. Mars helps
us move further, to survive and adapt to the changes in the solar system. Coming back to the
Mars exploration, its important study atmosphere and climate pattern, Mars lithosphere,
minerals and tectonic movements, and more. All these studies provide insights into necessary
technology development and might help in terra-forming* Mars, making it possible for human
settlement.

Many countries sent flybys, orbiters, rovers to explore Mars. Till now, 49 missions have been
carried out, out of which 35 are failures, and two are partial successes. Russia then USSR,
USA, UK, Japan, China like countries succeeded after many attempts.

Whereas India became the first country to have a successful Mars orbiter in the maiden attempt.
Mission Mangalyaan (Mars Orbiter Mission - MOM), is India’s first Mars exploration mission.
Before we go in depth about Mangalyaan Mission, let us get close to Mars and understand its
properties.

Physical Characteristics of Mars:

Mars is the 4th planet in our solar system and also a neighboring planet of the Earth.

Radius = 3389.5 km
Surface Area = 144.37 x 106 km2
Volume = 1.631 x 1011 km3
Mass = 6.4171 x 1023 kg
Acceleration due to gravity = 3.72 m/s2

Formation of Mars
The most consistent theory we have about the formation of Mars is that it was formed by
‘runaway’ and ‘oligarchic’ growth.

‘Runaway’ growth means that larger planetesimals grow more rapidly than the smaller ones,
and the mass ratio increases monotonically.

Dynamical friction is also effective at this runaway stage. Larger protoplanets grow
comparatively slower than the smaller ones, still growing a lot faster than planetesimals. Hence,
after rapid runaway growth, there is a stage when protoplanets with the same order mass grow
‘oligarchically’, while most planetesimals remain small.

The orbital repulsion of protoplanets is a coupling effect of scattering between protoplanets

and dynamical friction by planetesimals.

Difference between Planetesimal and Protoplanet

Planetesimal – A minute body which is going to form a planet due to its gravitational
force.
Protoplanet – A large body of matter orbiting the Sun, or a star is thought to develop
into a planet.

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Mars’ accretion timescale can be studied using
the 182Hf–182W decay system in shergottite-
nakhlite-chassignite meteorites. Mars accreted
pretty quickly, reaching around half of its
current size in only about 1.8 million years or
less. And as most of the Martian accretion was
in the first 4 million years of the Solar System
(as found out from studying isotropic
compositions of Martian meteorites), when all
the large planetesimals were still in the disk, it
is safe to say that Mars is an escaped planetary
embryo merging into others in a runaway and
oligarchic fashion.

Mars has a considerably similar internal

structure to that of the Earth. Martian core is a
highly dense mixture of iron, nickel, and a
considerable amount of sulphur. The core of
metallic sulphides is surrounded by silicates in
its mantle. After the lighter elements in the Fig. 3: Layers of Mars
mantle that constitutes volcanic and other
tectonic activity, the crust is found to have a variety of elements like magnesium, iron, calcium,
aluminium, and potassium, apart from the silicates and oxygen from Martian dust.

Orbital System
Mars orbits the Sun at an average distance
of 22,79,39,200 km.

The minimum distance/perihelion is

20,67,00,000 km, and the maximum
distance/aphelion is 24,92,00,000 km.

At an average speed of around 24.007

km/s, it takes Mars about 779.96 days to
complete one revolution around the Sun.

Mars rotates at an equatorial rotational

speed of about 4.627 m/s around its axis
tilted at about 1.63o to the invariable
orbital plane.
Fig. 4: Mars revolving around the Sun

Gravitational Field
Martian gravitational behaviour is relatively similar to that of the Earth, with a few odd
gravitational anomalies at a few places, either due to the topography-based shorter wavelength
anomalies or the larger wavelength planetary-scale anomalies caused by the mantle’s strength
and the convective flow in it. A few small lateral variations are caused by tectonic activity,
seasonal crustal mass variation, etc.
The gravitational force experienced on Mars is 3.72 N/kg

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Magnetic Field
Mars does not have a global magnetic field of its own now, as it once used to a while after its
formation. The solar winds, however, directly interact with the Martian atmosphere, almost
sweeping the atmosphere away, and creating strong crustal magnetic fields on Mars that are
around 30 times stronger than that of the Earth.

Atmosphere
The Martian atmosphere consists of various gases in several quantities. The majority of it is
Carbon Dioxide constituting 95.97% of the Martian air, followed by Argon being 1.93%,
Nitrogen forming 1.89%, and Oxygen adding to 0.146% of it. Moreover, apart from this, other
gases narrowly contribute to the Martian atmospheric composition with 0.0557% Carbon
Monoxide, 0.0210% Water Vapor, 0.0100% Nitrogen Oxide, and 0.00025% Ne, 0.00008%
Hydrogen Deuterium Oxide, 0.00003% Krypton, and 0.00001% Xenon.

Geology
Martian geology is similar to that of the Earth as it is a terrestrial planet as well. The soil is
composed majorly of minerals made of silicon and metallic oxides. Martian surface is mainly
calc-alkaline tholeiitic basalt in nature, with some silica-rich and andesitic parts. Overall, the
dust on Mars is usually fine iron oxide grains. The composition of the Martian soil is mainly
alkaline solutions, especially chlorine solutions, of metals like magnesium, sodium, and
potassium.

Mars, just like the other planets, endured a ‘late heavy bombardment' phase from many
meteorites and asteroids, which created several impacts and craters on the surface in many
areas, including the well-known ‘Borealis Basin’ in the northern hemisphere.

The history of Martian geology can be broadly categorised into Noachian (4.5 to 3.5 billion
years old), Hesperian (3.5 to around 3.3 or 2.9 billion years old), and Amazonian periods (2.9
billion years old time to present day). While all of them incurred meteorite impacts, the
Noachian age was when it experienced the most that led to impact craters. This was also the
time when the high liquid water flow rate led to floods. The Hesperian age was when the
widespread lava plains formed. Early in the Amazonian period, many volcanoes including
‘Olympus Mons’, the biggest volcano in the Solar System, were formed.

Hydrology (Presence of Water)

Water has no probability of existing in a liquid state on the surface of Mars because of low
atmospheric pressure. But it can exist in solid(Ice) form, and the polar caps of Mars are
estimated to be made up of ice with the help of data gathered by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
and Mars Express, and more recently, the Phoenix Lander. Apart from this, some proofs
indicate the existence of liquid water in the past. Observations of several canyons and other
outflow channel-shaped routeways imply that liquid water once flowed in them. The possibility
still lies that these might be from the lava flow. The layers of the canyon walls point towards
erosion based on water flow. Apart from this, some minerals like hematite and goethite have
been detected on some rocks suggesting the presence of liquid water and indicating
considerable groundwater levels.

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Moons of Mars
Mars has two moons of its own, namely Phobos and Deimos.
Phobos is the bigger one with a mean radius of 11.26 km, a volume of 5783.61 km3, and a mass
of around 1.0659 x 1016 kg. And Deimos is the smaller one with a mean radius of 6.2 km, a
volume of 998.78 km3, and a mass of around 1.4762 x 1015 kg.

Phobos keeps drifting

inwards towards Mars as
it starts below the
Martian synchronous
orbit, and hence, the tidal
forces pull it inwards. At
the same time, Deimos
keeps drifting away from
Mars as it starts outside
the Martian synchronous
orbit.
Fig. 5: Moons of Mars - Phobos and Deimos (from left to right)
(Credits: NASA)

Fig. 6: Photos of Phobos and Deimos captured by MOM

Missions to Mars
After a few unsuccessful attempts made to reach Mars by the USSR with the 'Korabl', 'Mars',
'Marsnik', and 'Sputnik' programs in the 1960s, NASA began its attempts with the help of the
'Mariner' program. 'Mariner 4' launched in November 1964, reached Mars in July 1965 as a
flyby and sent a few photographs and data back. 'Mariner 6' and 'Mariner 7' also achieved flyby
and sent back some more data.

The USSR eventually succeeded with its 'Mars 2', the orbiter of which finally reached the
Martian orbit in November 1971, despite the lander crashing. In December 1971, Mars 3 finally
reached, with both the orbiter and the lander working, but the lander stopped working after a
while.
Finally, NASA's 9th attempt with 'Mariner 9' reached the Martian orbit, making it the first long-
lasting artificial satellite of Mars.

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After the Martian orbit, Viking 1 launched in 1975, was a mission with its lander to become
the first spacecraft to successfully land, in July, with a soft impact and stay in working condition
long enough to gather a considerable amount of data, narrowly followed by 'Viking 2' in
September the same year.

In December 1996, NASA's 'Mars Pathfinder' became the first mission to land an operational
rover - Sojourner successfully onto the surface of Mars, which became the first human sent
operational rover working on another planet.

This was followed by 'Mars Odyssey' in April 2001, 'Spirit' in June 2003, and 'Opportunity' in
July 2003.
After 'Mars Global Surveyor' in 1996, a few more flybys, orbiters, and impactors were sent by
NASA, ESA, RosCosmos in the 2000s, including 'Rosetta', 'Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter',
'Phoenix', 'Dawn', etc. After these, NASA's 'Curiosity' Rover landed on Mars in 2012.

In 2013, ISRO's 'Mangalyaan' (Mars Orbiter Mission) reached the Martian orbit, making ISRO
the only agency to reach Mars at its first attempts and at a noticeably low budget.

After this, some other missions have been sent, including NASA's 'MAVEN', 'InSight', etc.,
CNSA's 'Tianwen', ESA's 'ExoMars', UAE's 'Emirates Mars Mission'.

In 2020, NASA sent another rover, 'Perseverance', to Mars along with 'Ingenuity', the first-ever
helicopter to ever fly on Mars and the first aerodynamic flight on another planet.

ISRO’s Journey to Mars - Mangalyaan / Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM)

India’s Mars exploration mission was set into the track to study Mars geographic texture,
mineral availability, and different gases proportion in the Martian atmosphere. To study all
these, the orbiter needed to travel in three different phases, namely: Geocentric* phase,
Heliocentric phase and Areocentric* phase.

Fig. 7: MOM Spacecraft

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Launch Vehicle:

PSLV-XL variant was used for the launch of

the Mangalyaan orbiter. Mangalyaan orbiter
reached Sriharikota for integration with the
C-25 launch vehicle on 2 October 2013. Due
to the delay of the Chandrayaan-II mission
and once in a 26-month low energy Martian
orbital trajectory, most of the hardware and
software of the lunar orbiter was modified to
Martian orbiter MOM. Because of this,
MOM satellite integration was completed
Fig. 8: PSLV-XL(C-25) MOM Launch Vehicle
within 15 months.

PSLV C-25 launch vehicle flew into the skies in front of many spectators at the gallery on 5
November 2013. Initially, the launch date for MOM was scheduled for 28 October 2013. It was
later postponed because of the delay of the tracking ship to reach the designated point in the
south Pacific Ocean due to bad weather.

Mission profile:

MOM was initially placed in Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) at an apogee of 23,550 km, and
eight orbital raising manoeuvres were performed by firing rockets at perigee during a period of
25 days to inject the satellite into the Heliocentric phase. MOM followed a hyperbolic
trajectory for 266 days in the Heliocentric phase with three orbital corrections. Finally, on 24
September 2014, MOM was injected into the Areocentric phase.

Fig. 9: Mangalyaan Mission flight path

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To achieve that, ISRO used ground stations at Sriharikota, Port Blair, Brunei, and two Ship
Borne Terminal (SBT) in the south pacific-ocean provided by SCI (Shipping Corporation of
India)-Nalanda and SCI-Yamuna to track from to
launch to spacecraft separation.

During the orbital phase, in order to perform

mission operations, ISRO used;
• Local ground station: ISTRAC, Bangalore
• Global ground stations: Mauritius, Brunei
and Biak.
• NASA Deep Space Network ground
stations: Goldstone, Madrid, Canberra.
• Brazil’s INPE ground stations: Alcantara,
Cuiaba.
• South Africa’s SANSA ground station:
Hartebeestoek. Fig. 10: Local ground station, ISTRAC

Do you know?
Mangalyaan mission was tracked continuously from different TTC (Telemetry, Tracking and
Command Network) ground stations. As Mangalyaan was a deep space mission, mission
control, data processing and data storage needed to be done throughout the mission, even
beyond the far sight of ISRO’s ground station in India.

Payload Applications:

Mars exploration orbiter carried five scientific research instruments to study the Mars
characteristics. Lyman-Alpha Photometer* (LAP), Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM), Mars
Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyzer (MENCA), Mars Colour Camera (MCC), Thermal
Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS).

MSM was initially designed to measure the methane percentage in the Martian atmosphere.
After observations in Martian orbit, it was found that the sensitivity of the instruments to detect
extremely small quantity of Methane (if it exists). However, the instruments has been utilized
as an Albedo Mapper. Albedo Mapper works on the radiation portion reflected by the planet's
surface. Albedo mapping is useful for understanding surface temperature and climate patterns
based on terrain radiation absorption.

Fig. 11: (From left to right) MSM, MCC, LAP

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MCC is a camera onboard of MOM orbiter designed to study the surface features and
atmospheric variations of Mars. MCC is also used to study Mars' natural satellites, Phobos and
Deimos. To date, MCC has sent different terrain images of Mars craters, valleys, and
volcanoes. Data related to atmospheric changes include the formation of clouds during the
summer solstice* in the northern hemisphere consisting of water, storms of mars, effect of
winds on terrain features and impact of the solar system's humongous mountain - Olympus
moon, on the surrounding environment.

LAP works on the principle of absorbance spectrophotometry. Every substance in nature

absorbs or reflects a specific wavelength of light. The targeting specific wavelength, chemical
composition, or elemental proportion can be studied using this information. LAP is used to
measure Hydrogen and Deuterium percentage in the Mars atmosphere and Solar corona
through similar principles. Studying Hydrogen and Deuterium molecules helps understand the
formation and escape of water from the atmosphere of the planet. This instrument also was
found to be lacking in sensitivity.

MENCA is used to study the neutral chemical compositions of Mars atmosphere. It works on
the principle of mass spectrometry. MECA's findings include the attitudinal constituents of
Carbon dioxide, Carbon monoxide, Nitrogen, Nascent oxygen and argon in the exosphere of
Mars. MENCA studies help understand the exosphere and thermosphere behaviour during
different solar positions.

TIS helps in the mineral mapping of Mars. TIS works on the principle of thermal infrared
spectrometry. Compared to other spectrometry, thermal infrared spectrometry works based on
the temperature and emissivity of the target mineral/material. TIS is designed to work in
particular environmental conditions based on the desired mineral study. The utilization of this
instrument was limited due to large thermal background in the target scene.

Fig. 12: (From left to right) MENCA and TIS

Do you know?
Mission Mangalyaan is the cheapest Mars mission to date with 74 million USD (450 Crore
INR). Indian expertise worked together to bring quality research equipment at an
affordable price, and they became successful at their attempt. It became more famous as
the entire space exploration mission cost was less than the Hollywood space movie
‘Gravity’ with a budget of 100 million USD.

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Announcement of Opportunity (AO) - ISRO's program

All the scientific data gathered by instruments of MOM are open to the national scientific
community. They can submit a research proposal to avail access to MOM data and provide
research findings in the interest of ISRO's MOM mission. Any research student, scientist, R&D
private or government body can request access. ISRO will have the right to authorize the
projects based on the experience of study of the individual applicant/organization. ISRO will
provide partial financial support related to project meetings, workshops, travel, etc. It is an
excellent opportunity for citizens of India to conduct their own research on the Martian data.
With dedication and hard work, one's research work can amaze the entire world and become
world-renowned.

Findings & Mission Status:

Mangalyaan was planned for a mission life of six months. However, due to fuel-saving
manoeuvres and accurate orbital injections and firings saved 20 Kg of fuel, making 40 Kg of
fuel at the time of Mars's high elliptical orbit insertion. The functioning of instruments with no
or less degradation even after six months of working
under such harsh conditions is another great feat of
the orbiter for its ongoing mission life.

ISRO utilized this opportunity to make use of the

data and worked towards familiarizing the Martian
conditions. Control and Command Unit made
necessary orbital corrections to further prolong the
life of MOM to endure solar eclipse, bursts, flares
and other mission unplanned phenomena. MOM
instruments' prolonged functioning also helps to
understand the response and health of the instrument
to work in such harsh conditions. Fig. 13: Schiaparelli Crater captured by MOM

Intersecting valleys or ridges present in between

Valles Marineris and the Tharsis region on
Mars. This region is characterised by a system
of steep-walled canyons and valleys that give it
the aspect of a naturally-formed maze or
labyrinth. This image is captured by Mars
Colour Camera (MCC) from 10,392 km above.

Fig. 14: Noctis Labyrinyhus captured by MOM

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On the occasion of completion of one year of the
mission, ISRO released a Mars Atlas compelling the
data gathered by all the instruments of the
Mangalyaan orbiter.

Mangalyaan has helped publish 30+ research papers

so far and has more than 2 TB of picture data
consisting of images of Mars natural satellites-
Phobos and Deimos, Olympus Mountain and other
craters and valleys.

The collected data is processed to create objectives Fig. 15: Mars Atlas of ISRO
of future Mars expedition mission - MOM 2, which
is planned to be launched in 2024.

Glossary:

• Tectonics - Branch of geology relating to the structure of planet’s crust.

• Terraforming - Process of modifying atmosphere, temperature, surface topology of a
planet, moon or other body similar to Earth.
• Geocentric - Having Earth as representation of center.
• Heliocentric - Having Sun as representation of center.
• Areocentric - Having Mars as representation of center.
• Photometer - Device that measure strength of electromagnetic radiations ranging from
ultraviolet to infrared including visible spectrum.
• Solstice - Event that occurs when sun is most towards north or south relative to celestial
equator on a celestial sphere.

All the images used in this content are completely for educational purpose and not intended for any
commercial usage. We respect and thank all the copyright owners.

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