IAS Daily Dose: Current Affairs 2013 for UPSC IAS Exam - India's MARS mission in Nov next year

Last Updated: May 16, 2013 at 12:29:12

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Current Affairs Notes for PT 2013

Four years after successfully launching a moon probe, India has decided to make another ambitious space effort by sending an orbiter to Mars in November 2013. India will be the sixth space power to undertake such an effort after the US, Russia, Europe, Japan and China, whose maiden attempt last year was unsuccessful.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is learnt to have approved the Rs 450 crore-mission slated for launch on November 20, 2013. The Space Commission gave its green signal in December 2011.

Explaining the timing of the mission, scientists said that an attempt to Mars has the best chance when the planet is closest to the Earth and a launch on November 20, 2013 gives it one such window. The next opportunity, the Department of Space (DoS) has said, will only be some five years later in the summer of 2018. NASA, too, is said to be contemplating a Mars mission in November next year.

The Chinese made their attempt last November through their satellite Yinghuo-1 that was launched by a Russian rocket from Baikonur in Kazakhstan but its engines failed to provide the momentum to escape earth’s gravity. The satellite and the craft remained locked in earth’s orbit before crashing into the Pacific Ocean in January this year.

As per the proposed project schedule, the spacecraft for the Mars orbiter will be ready for launch from Sriharikota by October-November next year. The DoS has indicated to the government that the orbiter will enter Mars’s orbit by September 2014, making it an approximately 300-day voyage. India plans to launch its orbiter on its own Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-XL).

The main improvisations in the Mars mission over Chandrayaan would be to provide on-board autonomy in communication, enhanced power generation capacity given the large distance from the Sun and in the propulsion system due to the long distance.

Besides, two ship-borne transportable terminals will be deployed in the Pacific Ocean during the launch phase of the flight. The project will necessitate augmenting the existing Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) to meet the telemetry requirements of this mission.

So far, there have been 42 unmanned missions attempted to Mars, of which 21 have failed in the launch phase itself.