Bangalore: India Wednesday made history by becoming the first country in the world to enter the Martian orbit in its maiden attempt.
“The spacecraft (Orbiter) was successfully inserted into the Martian orbit at 515 km away from the red planet’s surface and 215 million km away from the earth in radio distance,” a senior space official told IANS at the mission’s control centre here.
The Mars orbit insertion began in the early hours at 4.17 a.m. when the spacecraft switched over to the medium gain antenna for emitting and receiving radio signals.
After rotating the Orbiter in the direction of Mars at 6.57 a.m., the main engine was ignited at 7.17 a.m. to enable the spacecraft enter the Martian orbit.
During the crucial operation, when an eclipse occurred on Mars from 7.12 a.m., the 440 Newton liquid apogee motor (LAM) of the main engine started burning at 7.30 a.m. and lasted for 24 minutes till 7.54 a.m. for inserting the spacecraft into the Martian orbit.
“Radars at the four earth stations across the US, Europe, India and Australia received the signal confirming the successful insertion of the spacecraft into the Martian orbit,” the official said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah were at ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore to witness the crucial Mars Orbiter Insertion.
Prime Minister congratulated Indian Space Research Organisation for its history achievement as it successfully launched India’s maiden Mars Mission. India is the first country to reach Mars in its first attempt.
With the achievement, ISRO has entered the league of three other agencies which have succesfully launched Mars mission.
PM Modi and Karnataka Chief Minister K Siddaramaiah were at ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore to witness the crucial Mars Orbiter Insertion.
Hailing ISRO scientist for this stupendous achievement, Modi said, “I congratulate all ISRO scientists and all Indians on this historic occasion. History has been created today. We have dared to reach out to the unknown.”
Modi was confident that the mission would be 100 per cent successful. He said, “MOM ka Mangal se milan hua (MOM has been united with Mars). MOM never disappoints.”
The spacecraft has travelled a distance of 65 crore kms to reach its destination. He said, “With scarce resources our great scientists have achieved it. I am really proud. We have gone beyond the boundaries. Travelling an incredible distance of over 650 million or 65 crore kms, we have gone beyond boundaries, of human enterprise & imagination.”
Noting the level of scientists involved in this mission, Modi said, “It takes more time for our scientists to convey a message to Mangalyaan than it takes the sunlight to reach Earth. The odds were stacked against us. Of 51 missions attempted in world only 21 succeded. We have prevailed.”
India’s accomplishment will also go down as landmark in history. “Innovation by its very nature involves risk. You are trying to do something not done. It is a leap into the dark.”
Modi added that scientists have honoured fore-father by this achievement. “Scientists have made great personal sacrifices to achieve this. Through your achievements, you have honoured our fore-fathers, and inspired our future generations. ISRO has a tradition and culture of grooming junior scientists.”
Modi also asked citizens to celebrate this day as ‘Anand Utsav’. He said, “If our cricket team wins a tournament, then nation celebrates. Our scientists’ achievement is much greater. Today all of India should celebrate our scientists. Schools, colleges should applaud this.”
President of India Pranab Mukherjee also tweeted, “Hearty congratulations & best wishes to ISRO Team on Mangalyaan’s success; nation proud of this historic acheivement” and of course Prime Minister Modi, who we heard speaking a little while ago, is also among the well wishers on Twitter.
