Bharat Rakshak

SaiK wrote:hello mom! are you ok?

I think MoM heard you and sent a LOT of pics!
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 453692.cms

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home ... 474895.cms

Phuck those photos are glorious.

For CT types these photos by Mangalyaaan are going viral..


This, of course (as pet CT) looks like:


Proving this theory:

https://www.facebook.com/ISRO

Seem to be new pics of Mars from Mangalyaan. From 5 hours ago. Apologies if they have been seen, they look new.

Today, March 24th, is six months to the day, that Mangalyaan first entered the Martian orbit. By original projections, it should be nearing the end of its life. We know that's not happening!

New pictures from MOM

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-ma ... hs-2071645

Mars mission completes 6 months, life extended by 6 months

Tuesday, 24 March 2015 - 6:45pm IST | Place: New Delhi | Agency: PTI

The Rs 450-crore MOM Mangalyaan is the cheapest inter- planetary mission that, at just USD 74 million, cost less than the estimated USD 100 million budget of the sci-fi blockbuster "Gravity" and a tenth of NASA's Mars mission Maven that entered the Martian orbit on September 22.
Representational image.
The country's low-cost Mars mission, that completed six months of rendezvous with the red planet on Tuesday, has been extended by another six months due to surplus fuel, a senior ISRO official said.

"Mars orbiter spacecraft has completed six months orbiting around Mars today, its life has been extended for another six months. About 37 kgs of fuel is available which we feel is sufficient to last longer," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) spokesperson Deviprasad Karnik told PTI.

Scripting space history, India on September 24, 2014 successfully placed its low-cost Mars spacecraft in orbit around the red planet in its very first attempt, breaking into an elite club of three countries.

The Rs 450-crore MOM Mangalyaan is the cheapest inter- planetary mission that, at just USD 74 million, cost less than the estimated USD 100 million budget of the sci-fi blockbuster "Gravity" and a tenth of NASA's Mars mission Maven that entered the Martian orbit on September 22.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had exultantly described the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) as "a historic occasion", saying the country has achieved the "near impossible".

Karnik said "all five payloads are on, Mars colour camera has already sent about three hundred odd pictures; the accummulation of data will continue but their analysis will take more time."

Stating that the spacecraft will go through a "blackout" phase for about 15 days from June 8 to 22, he said that "during this period, Sun will block Mars from the earth snapping the communication with the satellite.

"At this time, MOM will go into autonomous mode and will take its decisions; we will not know about the fuel consumption at this time, once it comes out it will be analysed," he added.

MOM aims to study Mars' surface and mineral composition, and scan its atmosphere for methane, an indicator of life in Mars.

European, American and Russian probes have managed to orbit or land on the Mars but after several attempts. The first Chinese Mars mission, called Yinghuo-1, failed in 2011.

In 1998, the Japanese mission ran out of fuel and was lost.

The ISRO spacecraft was launched on its nine-month-long odyssey on a homegrown PSLV rocket from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on November 5 2013 and had escaped the earth's gravitational field on December 1.

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/ ... sro-chief/

India’s first interplanetary expedition – Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) or Mangalyaan – has completed over 800 orbiting circles of the “Red Planet”.
The orbiter that has already completed the scheduled six months, encircling Mars, can last several “years” in the Martian orbit with the 39 kilograms of fuel that it still has in it’s fuel tanks, said AS Kiran Kumar, chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Mangalyaan had entered the Martian orbit on September 24, 2014 after NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) orbiter that began encircling Mars on September 5, 2014. MAVEN has completed over 1000 orbits of Mars in about 200 days. Both ISRO’s and NASA’s mission are aimed at studying the Martian atmosphere.
“Their (MAVEN’s) orbital period is shorter. We take about 2.5-3 days to complete an orbit…. Ours is a highly elliptical orbit and so we will take more time…..Their orbit is probably one-third of ours. In the six months (about 180 days), we have completed about 800 orbits of Mars,” said Kiran Kumar while talking to mediapersons about the mission on the sidelines of Gujarat Innovation Society Award Function in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
“Originally when we planned the mission, the life of MoM was estimated to be about six months after the insertion (into the Martian orbit). So on March 24, we completed our originally planned mission. But all subsystem are still working fine and we have a fuel of 39 kilograms still remaining. So it can last for a long time,” the said of ISRO said emphasising that the MoM could survive for “years” in the Martian orbit.
The Ceramic Servo Accelerometer, weighing about 50 grams, have one of the most important fuel-saving devices on-board the Mangalyaan which is carrying five important payloads including a Mars Colour Camera, Methane Sensor for Mars, Lyman Alpha Photometer, Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser and Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer. Last year, Joji Chaman, Group Head, Mechanical Design and Production, ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU), Thiruvanathapuram had received the prestigious Shri Hari Om Ashram Prerit Dr Vikram Sarabhai Research Award 2013 for developing the device along with his team.
“But we have one major event which we have to look at. Sometime in June, this year we have for two weeks a communication blackout, because the Sun, Earth and Mars will be in the same line, as a result of which no communication will be possible for 14 days. So during that time, the autonomous systems built in the satellite is supposed to take care of all operations. But anyway, we have to wait and watch,” Kiran Kumar said.

^^^

But all subsystem are still working fine and we have a fuel of 39 kilograms still remaining. So it can last for a long time,” the said of ISRO said emphasising that the MoM could survive for “years” in the Martian orbit.

As I commented some time ago (while discussion was going on about -"how long the fuel was enough etc") one does not require fuel just to stay in an orbit.. IOW even if all the fuel gone, the craft can remain in orbit for a long time (as in thousands of years).

(The useful life where equipments are working to transmit data is ,of course much shorter, and fuel is required if a change in orbit is to be made)

Amberg: any guess on the equipment life? They are solar powered right?

^^^
^^^
As per Wiki MOM has 40 Kgs fuel left when it entered Martian Orbit.
Vide 24th March update it is left with 37 Kgs.
So in six months operation it consumed about 3 Kgs, and that includes some ( details not available ) maneuver for avoiding impact from a comet debris.

Even if normal op takes 10 kgs/yr we are sure for 3 yr availability based on fuel count alone.

Instrumentation runs on solar power and even when it is farthest from Sun the Solar flux would be sufficient for normal operation.
In the worst case even if Solar generation reduces due to failure of some circuits, operations can be curtailed, but will not stop totally.

SSSalvi ji: Thanks. You answered my question which was whether there is enough solar flux to drive C^3, and imaging electronics. I presume they are using low power radition hardened devices. Are they fabricated in India or imported?

c^3??
or MC^2?
MC^2 is SAC, Ahmedabad design ( Kiran Kumar )
I don't know about MOM, but as far as a few other Earth missions are concerned ONLY Radiation Hardened devices are used so they must have used the same/better devices for such a complex/tough-environ mission.

BTW, stumbled upon these images by MC^2 sensor presented at 45th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2014). If already available on BR then please excuse.

Amber G. wrote:^^^

But all subsystem are still working fine and we have a fuel of 39 kilograms still remaining. So it can last for a long time,” the said of ISRO said emphasising that the MoM could survive for “years” in the Martian orbit.

As I commented some time ago (while discussion was going on about -"how long the fuel was enough etc") one does not require fuel just to stay in an orbit.. IOW even if all the fuel gone, the craft can remain in orbit for a long time (as in thousands of years).

(The useful life where equipments are working to transmit data is ,of course much shorter, and fuel is required if a change in orbit is to be made)

Fuel is required to maintain the attidude of the s/c. Once attitude is lost, meaning full science will not be possible, also communication will be diffficult if not impossible.

ISRO has given 3 hi-res images obtained from Magalyaan on their facebook. Nice ones.

Image 1
Image 2
Image 3

Amazing pics. Finally some well calibrated imagery.

looks like they are not revealing everything that they are getting from MOM.

Finally some proof that Mars do indeed received the gift MoM from his mother Earth !

So I guess no CTs/nice stories possible for our future generation like Apollo(moon landing) missions and there wont be Transformer and Superman style movies and no time pass for the current generation too!!

The issue for most of these craft is not orbital maintenance but attitude correction and for directing the payloads for proper observation.
.That requires fuel.

Fabulous pictures.

chaanakya wrote:looks like they are not revealing everything that they are getting from MOM.

And hopefully they have learnt from Chandrayaan-1 when they got scooped out by NASA on the water-on-moon results.

Few comments...too add to points already made and just to be clear on one point..(For those interested in the physics part

juvva wrote:

Amber G. wrote:^^^>>>But all subsystem are still working fine and we have a fuel of 39 kilograms still remaining. So it can last for a long time,” the said of ISRO said emphasising that the MoM could survive for “years” in the Martian orbit<<<

As I commented some time ago (while discussion was going on about -"how long the fuel was enough etc") one does not require fuel just to stay in an orbit.. IOW even if all the fuel gone, the craft can remain in orbit for a long time (as in hundreds/thousands of years).

(The useful life where equipments are working to transmit data is ,of course much shorter, and fuel is required if a change in orbit is to be made)

Fuel is required to maintain the attidude of the s/c. Once attitude is lost, meaning full science will not be possible, also communication will be diffficult if not impossible.

As said, Yes, the "operational"/useful life is much shorter.. due to various factors..

But MoM , short of its fuel being used to crash on Mars, will likely to be remain in orbit for a long time. (as in hundreds if not thousands of years - considering the only drag of a thin atmosphere of Mars at that altitude - assuming, of course, I am not making any big error in my calculations.. ).

Yes, one requires fuel, if one wants to change orbit, or even if one wants to point the dish to earth so that it's signals can be picked..

Just for perspective Mariner 9, the first spacecraft to enter the orbit around Mars, sent in 1971 or so, its fuel long gone, deaf and dumb and in the cold darkness, is still orbiting Mars...

(BTW, another perspective for those who use iPhones... and plans with GigaBytes of data.. the maximum data length used when it was alive and well, and when it sent pictures, was about 30 bits at time !!!.. and speed measured in few hundred bits per second.. (Because of limitations of the transmitter) The circuitry used was called the "Green Machine", which employed the fast Fourier transform, data compression etc, increasing the decoding speed ...)

Kanson wrote:Finally some proof that Mars do indeed received the gift MoM from his mother Earth !

So I guess no CTs/nice stories possible for our future generation like Apollo(moon landing) missions and there wont be Transformer and Superman style movies and no time pass for the current generation too!!

OTOH we do have .. Nasa becoming a Traffic Cop to avoid a collision between Mangalyaan & Marven stories even today.

( I guess, Mangalyaan should not be too busy looking at beautiful sites and pay all the attention to cameras..

US space agency NASA has begun the process of monitoring the orbit paths of its own MAVEN, India’s Mangalyaan, European Mars Express, its own old redundant missions to avoid collision after January 2015 incident....
On Jan. 3, 2015, it was found that two weeks later, MAVEN and MRO (both NASA missions) ...[close came to have a collision )

With an enhanced collision-avoidance process, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of California is now tracking the location of NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor, a 1997 orbiter that is not in operation but poses the danger of collision....
.....

“Previously, collision avoidance was coordinated between the Odyssey and MRO navigation teams,” said Robert Shotwell, Mars Program chief engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Ruling out any collisions in near future, he said there was less of a possibility as MAVEN’s is highly elliptical orbit, crossing the altitudes of other orbits. “We track all the orbiters much more closely now. There’s still a low probability of needing a manoeuver, but it’s something we need to manage...

srin wrote:

chaanakya wrote:looks like they are not revealing everything that they are getting from MOM.

And hopefully they have learnt from Chandrayaan-1 when they got scooped out by NASA on the water-on-moon results.

If I recall correctly, the instrument which discovered water was a NASA payload. What ISRO missed was an opportunity to do a simultaneous press conference with NASA. The SPL, TVM built instrument did make claims but it came later I think.

Someone can clarify, perhaps Salvi-ji or saurabh.

Mangalyaan mission to enter 15-day ‘blackout’ phase tomorrow - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/ ... QYMEz.dpuf

Observe the round craters here (some of them appear deep):

Observe the round mounds? here (some of them appear tall):


why are the craters appearing in different depth format? if they are not craters, then what are those mounds?

http://www.isro.gov.in/mars-orbiter-spa ... round-mars
Mars Orbiter Spacecraft in its 100th Orbit around Mars

India’s Mars Orbiter Spacecraft is in its 100th orbit around Mars today (Start : June 22, 2015 End: June 25, 2015). The spacecraft was designed for a mission life of six months in Mars orbit, which was completed on March 24, 2015. With this, the primary objectives of the Mars Orbiter Mission were realised.

Mars Orbiter spacecraft has outlived its prime mission life and is healthy and operational. The spacecraft, which had earlier entered the ‘blackout phase’ (due to Mars moving behind the Sun from Earth’s perspective), is gradually coming out of that phase. The spacecraft health data is now being received. The current elliptical orbit of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft has a periareion (nearest point to Mars) of 474 km and an apoareion (farthest point to Mars) of 71, 132 km.

The payloads onboard the Spacecraft were last operated in May 2015, and performance of all payloads were satisfactory. Mars Colour Camera (MCC) of the spacecraft had taken 405 frames so far. Operations of all payloads will restart in a few weeks from now.


Image from Mars Colour Camera (MCC), taken on May 09, 2015 at 16:11:23UT at an altitude of 535 km and resolution ~25m. This is the last image taken before going into blackout mode. The image shows the area between Sinai and Lassell craters

^ they are craters. It is a well known optical illusion where craters look like mounds. Flip the image around and see to get a perspective.

Wonder when MOM will come out of the eclipse.

makes optical sense

What's that elliptical thing in the corner?

The elliptical thing is the legend to position the photo wrt Mars surface.

Ah, okay, thanks.

http://www.firstpost.com/india/indias-m ... 14360.html

India's Mars mission spacecraft has enough fuel to last 'many years': ISRO chief
Jun 26, 2015 18:16 IST

Bengaluru: The country's low-cost Mars mission spacecraft that is in a rendezvous with the Red planet for an extended period has enough fuel for it to last "many years", Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman Kiran Kumar said on Friday.
Mars-ISRO2Scripting space history, India on 24 September successfully placed the low-cost Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft in orbit around the Mars in its very first attempt
"....now it will be surviving for many years," Kumar told reporters in the city on the sidelines of Indian Institute of Science Alumni Global Conference 2015 'Science for Society'.
He said, "still about 45 kg of fuel is left; ...we are hardly using the fuel, fuel requirement is very small."
"Originally with the kind of fuel we had carried, we were not expecting that we will be able to complete the mission for more than six months," he said.
Elaborating, he said right from launch till the spacecraft was inserted into the desired orbit, many difficulties could have been encountered "in which case we would have spent more fuel....but it didn't happen right from the beginning through the whole process."
The spacecraft's life was extended for another six months in March due to surplus fuel.
Scripting space history, India on 24 September successfully placed the low-cost Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft in orbit around the Mars in its very first attempt, breaking into an elite club.
ISRO had launched the spacecraft on its nine-month-long odyssey on a homegrown PSLV rocket from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on 5 November, 2013 and it had escaped the earth's gravitational field on 1 December, 2013.
Kumar said "there was no untoward incidents, no failures;....even when you launch you have to give some margin for launch error that also was not there. So we were able to save fuel right from beginning till insertion."
"Now we have saved, almost 45 kg is there. It will last for many years," he added. He however did not exactly specify how long the spacecraft's life can be further extended. Asked to specify the time frame, he said "we will go one step at a time. We had told the longest duration of gap of communication was this one (8- 22 June). Now this we have survived. Next similar event will be two-and-half years later."
ALSO SEE

On being questioned whether it can last two-and-half years, he said "...it should."
From 8 to 22 June, the MOM was in "blackout" phase snapping communication with the satellite, as the sun had blocked Mars from the Earth. MOM during this period went into an "autonomous mode".
"It (satellite) has come out (of eclipse), it has survived longest gap of communication link, now we are getting signals back from the satellite; ....from 19 June onwards we are getting signals," Kumar said.
Stating that the intended objective of the mission will continue during the extended life span, he said "it will continue. We will get more data as bonus, and we will get more information with respect to the seasons on the mars itself.
Different periods of the year for the Mars- we will be able to collect the data."
To a question on the findings of the mission so far, Kumar said, "we have found out many things, but it will take time (for validation and then announcement)...."
"See, it (satellite) completes once in three days an orbit, now hundred orbits we have completed....the amount of pictures that are collected from the MCC (Mars Color Camera) is about 400 frames of images and every orbit certain specific period we collect data on the Mars Spectrometer, Lyman Alpha Photometer, and also the Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer and the Methane Sensor, so it keeps getting accumulated."
PTI

^^^ Same from another headline:
India's Mars mission may last "many years," ISRO chief

This is what I commented about, for example the first post on this page..

But MoM , short of its fuel being used to crash on Mars, will likely to be remain in orbit for a long time. (as in hundreds if not thousands of years - considering the only drag of a thin atmosphere of Mars at that altitude - assuming, of course, I am not making any big error in my calculations.. ).

Yes, one requires fuel, if one wants to change orbit, or even if one wants to point the dish to earth so that it's signals can be picked..

Just for perspective Mariner 9, the first spacecraft to enter the orbit around Mars, sent in 1971 or so, its fuel long gone, deaf and dumb and in the cold darkness, is still orbiting Mars...

Looks like per ISRO, the mission is lasting much more than originally planned - 6 months -- "still about 45 kg of fuel is left; ...we are hardly using the fuel, fuel requirement is very small."

About two and half years from now we are likely to have another "black out" for a few weeks (just like this June) ..till then
I think MOM might do its work quietly without much fanfare..

AmberG ji: What kind of a bang one can get for 45 KG of fuel assuming there are no mishaps?

I was wondering if they can reduce the height after the initial science mission so that they get a more circular orbit and be able to get more data with that.One thing is that with our resource constraints we had one advantage due to the highly eccentric orbit-this is the only science mission that gets primary full disc images of Mars but I presume that close up viewing time is probably limited as we are near the periapsis for a very short time.

http://www.isro.gov.in/sites/default/fi ... 02.mp4.mp4

3D- Visualization of Mars Terrain using Mars Color Camera Images onboard MOM

A fly-through of mars, covering Valles Marineris region was created by Space Application Center (SAC) using Mars Color Camera (MCC) Image. This fly-through takes to hovering around Oudemans, Calydon Fossa, Louros Valles Arima, Ophir and Perrotin features.

Valles Marineris is the largest canyon system about 4000 km long, 200 km wide and 7 km deep. This image also shows Noctis Labyrinthus at bottom left corner of the image. Fracture patterns at the center of Valles Marineris and northern portion of Noctis Labyrinthus are clearly seen.

The Noctis Labyrinthus, located at the western edge of the Valles Marineris Rift System, is a jumbled terrain composed of huge blocks which are heavily fractured. Eroded deposits located in central portion (floor) of Valles Marineris are clearly seen in this image. Regional contacts / fracture pattern running parallel to Valles Marineris, Arima crater located south of Valles Marineris is also seen in this image. Wall of the canyon are also seen.

Images of Valles Marineris and adjoining regions of Mars taken by MCC on board MOM are used in generating the fly-through. The MCC image was captured on November 10, 2014 at an altitude of 16,972 km. The spatial resolution of image is 882 m. The data was corrected by normalizing the radiometry with topographic effects. Subsequently, the image is draped over Planet Mars topography in the region of coverage mentioned above. Topography data has been smoothed for visual appeal.

Mars Digital Elevation Model from Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) of Mars Global Surveyor mission is used as Topography Source. Mars Digital Image Mosaic from Viking missions is used as background planet texture. The video is generated by DECU, SAC, Ahmedabad.

http://www.isro.gov.in/pslv-c25-mars-or ... era-images

BRF question: we have tags for google and youtube video.. why not other video types?

SaiK wrote:

http://www.isro.gov.in/sites/default/fi ... 02.mp4.mp4

http://www.isro.gov.in/pslv-c25-mars-or ... era-images

Nice visualization of a canyon 4000 Km long, 200 Km wide and 7 km deep. Imagine the size of the river that created it.
Its amusing they have used a Hollywood movie theme for background audio.

prashanth wrote: http://www.isro.gov.in/sites/default/fi ... 02.mp4.mp4

http://www.isro.gov.in/pslv-c25-mars-or ... era-images

Nice visualization of a canyon 4000 Km long, 200 Km wide and 7 km deep. Imagine the size of the river that created it.
Its amusing they have used a Hollywood movie theme for background audio.

Where's the "Like" button???