Mangalyaan is launched successfully - What Next ?

At 2:38 PM, 5 November - Two days post Diwali, ISRO successfully lauched a rocket "Majestic PSLV C25" towards planet Mars as if they were celebrating Diwali, after spending numerous sleepless nights in their endeavour to make the launch successful, at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.

Mangalyaan blasts off from its launchpad

India is the first Asian country and the fourth in the world to undertake a mission to the red planet. That's the reason, "A Billion Hopes" were riding with the Mangalyaan launch. ISRO made us feel proud and we can held our head high for the success.

Clouds kissing the ground - Seconds after the launch

About 45 minutes after the launch, Mars Orbitor Mission (MOM) Satelite, Mangalyaan, separated from its launch rocket and launch rocket has placed the Orbiter very precisely in an elliptical orbit around Earth, which makes the First Stage successful.

Now, Mangalyaan, is expected to go around the Earth for about a month, to attain the escape velocity. So that it can break free from Earth's gravitational pull. Only then Mangalyaan will begin it's Second Stage of nine-month long journey and is expected to enter in the Mars Orbit in September, 2014.

Some quick facts on Mars Orbital Mission :

• The launch vehicle used is PSLV C-25.
• This is 25th mission of PSLV and fifth in XL configuration.
• The weight of Mars Orbiter Satellite is 1,337 kg.
• The satellite will be placed into a 250 km X 23,500 km elliptical orbit.
• Time from launch to injection of Orbiter into its trajectory was about 40 minutes.
• The cost of mission is about 450 Crores. 

Payloads on Mars Orbiter :

1. For Atmospheric Studies -

• Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP)
• Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM) 

    2. For Particle Environment Studies - Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyzer (MENCA)
    3. For Surface Imaging Studies -

• Mars Color Camera (MCC) 
• Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIIS)

More Details on Payload :  ISRO - MOM Payloads  

Trajectory :

MOM's Trajectory

Launch Vehicle :

The challenging PSLV-C25 mission is optimised for the launch of Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft into a highly elliptical Earth orbit with a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 250 km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 23,500 km with an inclination of 19.2 + 0.2 degree with respect to the equator. 

PSLV-C25 Stages

PSLV Flight Profile

For More Details on Mars Orbiter Mission :
ISRO - Mars Orbiter Mission

Thanks a lot ISRO. Heartly congratulations to the whole ISRO family, who worked tirelessly to make MOM successful.
You made every Indian Proud.

Images Courtesy : ISRO's MOM Page on Facebook