25/10/2014
The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also called
Mangalyaan ("Mars-craft" from Sanskrit मंगल
mangala , "Mars" and यान yāna , "craft,
vehicle"), [9][10] is a spacecraft orbiting Mars
since 24 September 2014. It was launched on
5 November 2013 by the Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO) under the
guidance of the Project Director Mylswamy
Annadurai . [11][12][13][14]
The mission is a "technology demonstrator "
project to develop the technologies for
design, planning, management, and
operations of an interplanetary mission. [15]
It carries five instruments that will help
advance knowledge about Mars to achieve its
secondary, scientific, objective. [16]
The Mars Orbiter Mission probe lifted-off
from the First Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan
Space Centre (Sriharikota Range SHAR),
Andhra Pradesh , using a Polar Satellite
Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket C25 at 09:08
UTC (14:38 IST) on 5 November 2013. [17] The
launch window was approximately 20 days
long and started on 28 October 2013. [5] The
MOM probe spent about a month in
geocentric , low-Earth orbit , where it made a
series of seven altitude-raising orbital
manoeuvres before trans-Mars injection on
30 November 2013 (UTC ). [18] After a 298-day
transit to Mars, it was successfully inserted
into Mars orbit on 24 September 2014.
It is India 's first interplanetary mission [19]
and ISRO has become the fourth space
agency to reach Mars, after the Soviet space
program , NASA, and the European Space
Agency. [20][21] It is also the first nation to
reach Mars orbit on its first attempt, and the
first Asian nation to do so. [22][23][24][25]
The spacecraft is currently being monitored
from the Spacecraft Control Centre at ISRO
Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network
(ISTRAC) in Bangalore with support from
Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antennae
at Byalalu .[26]