As India's 'Mars Orbiter Mission' successfully reached its climax this morning, I was one among the crores of proud Indians who stood up and savoured the special moment. The country's satellite has been positioned in an elliptical orbit(perigee 420 km and apogee 80,000 km) around the red planet and that's gonna beam vital information to our scientists which would go a long way in unraveling its mysteries.
I'm not going into the technical details because the media has been focusing on them making the details of the entire mission known to everyone and therefore, shall speak as a layman. Two factors make this success very special for the scientists of the Indian space establishment which are:-
(a) It's been achieved at a comparatively low cost of around Rs.450 crores.
(b) It's been achieved at first shot unlike all the other space agencies that had to bear with initial
failures and glitches. Though the European Space Agency had got it right the first time, it
must be understood that it's a conglomeration of several countries.
It was the culmination of a ten month long journey by the spacecraft and is a great step towards the future of interplanetary travel. In this exclusive club, India has joined up with the US, Russia and Europe as the sole representative of Asia! The following scientific activities will be performed by the satellite while going around the red planet:-
(a) Measure the relative abundance of Deuterium and Hydrogen in its upper atmosphere to
understand the previous presence of water on the planet.
(b) A Methane sensor will look for the sources of the gas.
(c) While the colour camera clicks away, a thermal infrared spectrometer will study heat emissions, minerals and soil.
Truly a red letter day in the calendar of every Indian! My salutes to the ISRO scientists!!
Tailpiece.
I'd called up to congratulate my friends - a scientist couple closely associated with the project - soon after hearing the great news. They're on cloud nine and profuse in their expression of thanks!
I'm not going into the technical details because the media has been focusing on them making the details of the entire mission known to everyone and therefore, shall speak as a layman. Two factors make this success very special for the scientists of the Indian space establishment which are:-
(a) It's been achieved at a comparatively low cost of around Rs.450 crores.
(b) It's been achieved at first shot unlike all the other space agencies that had to bear with initial
failures and glitches. Though the European Space Agency had got it right the first time, it
must be understood that it's a conglomeration of several countries.
It was the culmination of a ten month long journey by the spacecraft and is a great step towards the future of interplanetary travel. In this exclusive club, India has joined up with the US, Russia and Europe as the sole representative of Asia! The following scientific activities will be performed by the satellite while going around the red planet:-
(a) Measure the relative abundance of Deuterium and Hydrogen in its upper atmosphere to
understand the previous presence of water on the planet.
(b) A Methane sensor will look for the sources of the gas.
(c) While the colour camera clicks away, a thermal infrared spectrometer will study heat emissions, minerals and soil.
Truly a red letter day in the calendar of every Indian! My salutes to the ISRO scientists!!
Tailpiece.
I'd called up to congratulate my friends - a scientist couple closely associated with the project - soon after hearing the great news. They're on cloud nine and profuse in their expression of thanks!
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