Mars Orbiter Mission: ISRO gears up for 'tough task' on September 24

Zee Media Bureau/Salome Phelamei

Bangalore: As the country's Mars orbiter mission nears its destination, scientists at ISRO are gearing to undertake a "challenging task" on September 24 when they would restart the onboard liquid engine, which has been in sleep mode for nearly ten months, for a critical manoeuvre of the spacecraft.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday announced that commands for inserting the Mars spacecraft into the Red Planet's orbit have been uploaded.

ISRO said the entire loading process, which began on Sunday before noon will take about 13 hours to be completed, adding that the exercise is progressing smoothly.

These commands will be used on September 24 for firing the Mars spacecraft's propulsion system for 24 minutes to slow down the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) and inject it into the Red Planet's orbit.

India's MOM is expected to enter into the Mars orbit on September 24.

ISRO had earlier said that the Mars spacecraft is in the “pink of health” sending vital information from a distance of 211 million km after covering 95 per cent of its journey.

India's first interplanetary mission was launched from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on November 5, 2013 by the ISRO.