What were the mission objectives of Mangalyaan? What were the challenges Mangalyaan was designed to overcome?

The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), or Mangalyaan, was not just a scientific mission. It was also a chance to showcase the capabilities of Indian-made spacecraft, rockets and other instruments in the field of space technology!

As a technology demonstrator, Mangalyaan was to successfully cover all stages of an interplanetary journey – first go around the Earth in increasingly elliptical orbits, then cruise through space for the planned number of days, reach Mars and fall into an orbit around the planet, and continue orbiting it for the mission duration. The second goal of Mangalyaan was to image Mars, and collect data about its atmosphere and mineral composition. For this, Mangalyaan carried five payloads – Mars Colour Camera (MCC), Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM), Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP), Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyzer (MENCA), and Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS).

While designing Mangalyaan, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) planned for all challenges it could foresee. Its engine was designed to restart smoothly after its ten-month space cruise.

Another aspect taken care of was the deep space communication system. The large distances separating the Earth and Mars mean that the Round-Trip Light Time, or RTLT (the time taken for a signal from Earth to travel to a spacecraft and back), will be anywhere between 6 and 43 minutes! So, it was also designed to independently manage many in-flight situations!

Picture Credit : Google

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