Indian Mars Orbiter mission finally comes to end after 8 years of mission

Tags: Science and Technology

According to the reports quoting ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) the India’s Mars Orbiter spacecraft or Mangalyaan has run out of propellant and its battery drained beyond the safe limit.  It signals perhaps the end of the mission which was launched eight years ago and was designed to function for 6 months.

According to ISRO, the orbiter recently went into a long eclipse, and after that, there was no communication from it. The satellite had gone into eclipse earlier also and performed automatic maneuvers to come out of eclipse and re-establish communications. But if there is no fuel left, it would not be able to perform those automated movements.

The Mangalyaan was launched in a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)  C25 on 5 November 2013 and reached Mars on 24 September 2014. It was ISRO’s first interplanetary mission. At a budget of Rs 450 crore ($74 million), it is one of the most cost-effective space missions in the world.

The Mars mission was designed to last just six months, and the probe has sent a huge volume of data from the red planet in these eight years. The spacecraft carries five scientific instruments, Mars Colour Camera (MCC), Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS), and Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM), Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA) and Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP).

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) 

It was set up on 15 August 1969

It is India's national space agency. It launches its space rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Chairman: S.Somanath