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1. The mission led to the discovery of water on the Moon. The country is planning another
Moon mission in two years' time.
According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) officials, the Mars orbiter will orbit
the Earth till Nov 30 and then its motors will be fired to push it towards the red planet.
For nearly 300 days the motor will be off while the spacecraft floats through the inky void
towards Mars. When the spacecraft nears Mars, the motors will be restarted and fired again to
carry out maneuvers to put it in Martian orbit around September 2014. Following that, the onboard instruments would carry out their jobs.
The Mars mission blasted off from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre
here, around 80 km from Chennai.
At around 44 minutes into the flight, PSLV-C25 spat out the Mars orbiter.
On the successful ejection, scientists at the mission control centre were visibly relieved and
started clapping happily while the tracking systems began their work.
Minutes after its launch, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a tweet congratulated ISRO
scientists for "successful initiation of Mars Mission and wishes for its successful future".
President Pranab Mukherjee described it as "a landmark in our space programme".
"Now it will be complex mission to take the Mars orbiter from the Earth's orbit to Mars
orbit," K. Radhakrishnan, ISRO chairman, said post launch.
According to him, in September 2014 the orbiter will be around Mars and it will then be
placed in Mars orbit.
The entire launch duration was full of suspense. Unlike the normal PSLV missions that ended
around 18 minutes into the flight, the Mars Orbiter Mission took 44 minutes.
The suspense was heightened as the rocket had a long coasting period of around 25 minutes
between the third stage/engine burn-out and the ignition of the fourth and final stage.
As missing the launch would have set back the mission at least by two more years, ISRO
officials did not leave out anything to chance, including the weather forecast.
"As the launch was during northeast monsoon season, we enhanced our weather/cyclone
forecasting techniques to 10 days. The preparatory work for the Mars mission while
dismantling of the GSLV (geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle) rocket after the mission
was aborted this year posed a challenge for us," M.Y.S. Prasad, director, Satish Dhawan
Space Centre and chairman, Launch Authorisation Board, told IANS.
U.R.Rao, a former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) head, said the country can
afford the spend.
"India spends around Rs.5,000 crore on Diwali purchases and Rs.450 crore to reach Mars is
affordable," he said.
The objectives of ISRO's Mars mission are two fold - technological and scientific.
The technological objectives include design and realisation of Mars orbiter with a capability
to survive and perform Earth-bound manoeuvres, cruise phase of 300 days, Mars orbit
insertion/capture, and on-orbit phase around Mars.
It will also enable deep space communication, navigation, mission planning and management
and incorporate autonomous features to handle contingency situations.