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This story is from August 21, 2014

Mars orbiter mission spacecraft readies to hide behind Red Planet

In about 34 days, India’s Mars orbiter mission (MOM) spacecraft will be hiding behind the Red Planet and not be visible from earth.
Mars orbiter mission spacecraft readies to hide behind Red Planet
BANGALORE: In about 34 days, India’s Mars orbiter mission (MOM) spacecraft will be hiding behind the Red Planet and not be visible from earth. And, sitting far away in Peenya, north-west Bangalore, a host of scientists will strive to insert MOM into the Martian orbit, at 7.15am on September 24.
“Did you know most of MOM’s Mars orbit insertion happens while it is behind Mars?” Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) asked its curious followers on Facebook as it stares at an important challenge in its next MOM manoeuvre.

The spacecraft is travelling at a speed of 22km/second. The challenge before Isro would be to reduce this drastically to 1.6km/second, so that the rules of gravity around Mars are employable and the spacecraft is sucked into the desired orbit.
To achieve this, the space agency must fire its LAM engine, which would have remained idle for 299 days by September 24. Not only will the engine have to be fired but it has to be done after changing the orientation completely.
“Right now MOM is travelling in one direction, if we just fire the engine, it will only add to the velocity. So we will have to re-orient it to look the opposite direction and then fire the engine. What this does is it will push the spacecraft in the opposite direction and thereby reduce velocity,” a senior scientist said.
India will be the first country to taste success on its maiden mission to the Red Planet if this attempt succeeds.
Five other countries -- the US, Russia, Europe, Japan and China -- have tried their luck with Mars but have not succeeded in the first attempt. Russia took 10 attempts, while the US managed success after 6, China and Japan are still trying. In fact, only 21 of the 51 missions to Mars have been successful.
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