Bangalore: The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is all geared up for the September 24th maneuver of its mars mission.

There are just three weeks to go for D Day and ISRO is concentrating all its efforts on this prestigious mission.

The date was set long back for this difficult maneuver, called the Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI).

The spacecraft enters the Martian range of influence on September 22. ‘The action’ starts two days later when it would be about 700 km from the planet. First, at 6.50 a.m., the spacecraft will be turned or re-oriented. The most crucial act is to fire the engines on it to slow the spacecraft from a velocity of 22 km a second to 1.5 km a second. ISRO plans to fire all nine ‘guns’ on board: the main ‘LAM’ or liquid engine and eight small thrusters.

If the action clicks, India will join the very few nations that have achieved a Mars outing. It would be the first to reach there in the first attempt.