India’s first Mars orbiter suffered an engine anomaly Nov. 11 as attempts were made to raise the spacecraft’s orbit around Earth, but the mission remains on track, a senior scientist says.
The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) was boosted by a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C25) from the Sriharikota spaceport in south India on Nov. 5. Over the next 10 days, scientists at the Indian Space and Research Organization (ISRO) are scheduled to raise the apogee of the orbiter to around 200,000 km (124,274 mi.) in preparation for leaving Earth orbit and reaching Mars by September 2014.
However, a problem with the liquid fuel thruster caused the 1,350-kg (3,000-lb.) vehicle to fall short of the mark. The maneuver to raise the apogee of the “Maangalyaan” probe from 71,623 km to 100,000 km could only achieve 78,276 km, since the incremental velocity imparted to the spacecraft was only 35 m/s against the targeted 130 m/s, the ISRO scientist says.
This was the first orbit-raising move to fall short of the objective after three successful maneuvers in a series of five engine burns known as “midnight maneuvers” that began following the launch.
Avweek link.
Update: HAD a problem. Its back on track:
On Tuesday, the spacecraft completed a fourth repositioning to take it 100,000 kilometres (62,000 miles) from Earth, after the thruster engines failed during an attempt on Monday, leading the auto-pilot to take over.
"Fourth supplementary orbit raising manoeuvre of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft... has been successfully completed," the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement.
The first three manoeuvres, which involve firing additional fuel into the rocket's engine, were successfully performed last week.
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