3
days after NASA's MAVEN spacecraft went into orbit around Mars it had
some company as India's MOM (Mars
orbiter mission) satellite also took orbit around the red planet.
Being the first attempt at sending a spacecraft to Mars the news of
the satellite taking orbit was the cause of much fanfare across the
the nation. This marked the first time that any country, including
the United States, has been successful on their first attempt such a
mission.
“The
odds were stacked against us. About 51 Mars missions were launched
globally. Only 21 have succeeded. But we have prevailed,” India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the center. “The success
of our space program is a shining symbol of what we are capable of as
a nation. Modern India must continue to be a world guru.”
The
Indian Space Research Organization(ISRO) launched the MOM spacecraft
on November
5, 2013, 2 weeks before NASA's MAVEN launch, from the Satish
Dhawna Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. From there the
craft went on its 10 and a half month journey to the red planet. With
that journey complete it will now begin its 300 day mission to take
photos, gather information and transmit it back to the ISRO. To carry
out its mission the MOM spacecraft is equipped with the Lyman-Alpha
Photometer, Thermal Infared ImagingSpectrometer, Tri-color
cameramethane sensors and Mars
Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser.
"NASA
looks forward to the successful launch of this exciting mission and
the data that it is intended to provide on the Martian atmosphere,"
said Michael Braukas, a NASA spokesman. "It's probably going to
complement our research."
Compared
to today's high price tag for any space mission India's MOM
spacecraft was relatively inexpensive a only $72 million dollars.
This is almost one tenth the price of NASA's MAVEN spacecraft that
cost $670 million. Part of the difference is price tag though is due
to the more complexity to the MAVEN project including over double, 9
compared to 5, the amount of analyzing tools.
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