The Mars Orbiter Mission MOM, sometimes called Mangalyaan, is India’s first mission to Mars set for launch aboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in November 2013 for an arrival at Mars in 2014. The 1,337-Kilogram spacecraft carries a suite of five instruments to study Mars, its atmosphere and acquire photos of the Red Planet. Most importantly, the mission serves as a demonstration mission with the main objective of placing Mangalyaan in orbit around Mars as a study for future spacecraft and mission design.
The mission was put together on rather short notice – being approved in August 2012 with just 15 months to go until the Interplanetary Launch window that comes once every 26 months. The development of the mission was initiated one year earlier.
LAM is a robust engine that can tolerate injection pressures of 0.9 to 2.0 MPa, propellant temperatures of 0 to 65°C, mixture ratios of 1.2 to 2.0 and bus voltages of 28 to 42 Volts. The engine is certified for long firings of up to 3,000 seconds and a cumulative firing time of >23,542 seconds.MOM is equipped with a propulsive Attitude Control System consisting of eight 22-Newton thrusters that also use UMDH and MON-3 propellants.
The mission was put together on rather short notice – being approved in August 2012 with just 15 months to go until the Interplanetary Launch window that comes once every 26 months. The development of the mission was initiated one year earlier.
The Mars Orbiter Mission was approved by the Indian Government after the Indian Space Research Organization completed a project study.
Mangalyaan was approved for a total project cost of $69 million. In 2012, the individual components of the orbiter began assembly before the spacecraft came together in March 2013. The instruments started integration with the spacecraft in April to begin testing in August and September without much margin of error for meeting the launch window that stretches from October 28, 2013 to November 19, 2013.
The Space craft
The Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft is largely based on the Chandrayaan-1 Moon Orbiter featuring the same core structure and spacecraft systems. The Mangalyaan spacecraft bus is cuboid in shape featuring composite and metallic honeycomb sandwich panels and a central composite cylinder that facilitates all spacecraft equipment that is mounted on the panels as well as the cylinder. Fully integrated and fueled for flight, Mangalyaan weighs in at 1,337 Kilograms. The spacecraft has a dry mass of 475 Kilograms including a payload mass of 15 Kilograms and it carries a fuel load of 852 Kilograms.
The spacecraft is equipped with a single deployable solar array that consists of three panels – each being 1.4 by 1.8 meters in size. The assembly also includes a yoke and drive mechanism. The solar array provides 840 Watts of electrical power at Mars that is fed to a power distribution unit that provides power to the various systems and payloads and controls the state of charge of a 36-Amp-hour battery for night passes.
The spacecraft is equipped with a single deployable solar array that consists of three panels – each being 1.4 by 1.8 meters in size. The assembly also includes a yoke and drive mechanism. The solar array provides 840 Watts of electrical power at Mars that is fed to a power distribution unit that provides power to the various systems and payloads and controls the state of charge of a 36-Amp-hour battery for night passes.
Mangalyaan is equipped with a bipropellant Main Propulsion System and an Attitude Control System. The Propulsion System features two spherical propellant tanks each holding 390 liters of propellant. Mangalyaan uses Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine as fuel and Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen [MON-3: Nitrogen Tetroxide with 3% Nitric Oxide] as oxidizer that is fed to the engines via propellant lines and latch valves as pressure regulators. Tank pressurization is accomplished with high-pressure Helium. The He is stored in tanks at a pressure of 23.5Mpa that is regulated down to under 2MPa for tank pressurization.
The Main Propulsion System is centered around the Liquid Apogee Motor which has become the Indian workhorse on Geostationary Satellites and its previous Moon probe. LAM has demonstrated its capabilities in space many times, but for Mangalyaan, it has to be ensured that the engine can still fire after a 300-day coast to Mars for the orbit insertion maneuver – which is required for mission success.
LAM provides 440 Newtons of thrust which equates to 44.87 Kilograms. The engine operates and an mixture ratio (O/F) of 1.65 and has a nozzle ratio of 160 providing a specific impulse of 3,041N*sec/kg. The engine’s injector is a co-axial swirl element made of titanium while the thrust chamber is constructed of Columbium alloy that is radiatively cooled. Electron welding technique is used to mate the injector to the combustion chamber. The Main Propulsion System is centered around the Liquid Apogee Motor which has become the Indian workhorse on Geostationary Satellites and its previous Moon probe. LAM has demonstrated its capabilities in space many times, but for Mangalyaan, it has to be ensured that the engine can still fire after a 300-day coast to Mars for the orbit insertion maneuver – which is required for mission success.
LAM is a robust engine that can tolerate injection pressures of 0.9 to 2.0 MPa, propellant temperatures of 0 to 65°C, mixture ratios of 1.2 to 2.0 and bus voltages of 28 to 42 Volts. The engine is certified for long firings of up to 3,000 seconds and a cumulative firing time of >23,542 seconds.MOM is equipped with a propulsive Attitude Control System consisting of eight 22-Newton thrusters that also use UMDH and MON-3 propellants.
Scientific Instrument
Mangalyaan carries a 15-Kilogram payload suite that consists of five scientific instruments:
Mission Design
The Mars Orbiter Mission is planned to launch on an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle flying in its XL configuration. Mangalyaan does not use a direct injection in which the launch vehicle delivers the spacecraft to its Trans-Martian Trajectory. Instead, Mangalyaan is delivered to Earth orbit from where it uses its own propulsion system to insert itself into its TMI trajectory over a period of weeks. This design still requires the spacecraft to be launched within a narrow window that is only open for a few days every 26 months. The MOM launch window opens on October 28, 2013 and extends through November 19, 2013.
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in its XL Version stands 44.5 meters tall, has a core diameter of 2.8 meters and a liftoff mass of 320,000 Kilograms. It is a four-stage rocket that uses a combination of solid rocket stages and liquid-fueled stages. The launcher can deliver payloads of up to 1,410 Kilograms to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit and is not capable of delivering payloads of this weight-class to interplanetary trajectories – requiring a different approach to Lunar or Mars missions using PSLV.
The PSLV launcher consists of a large core stage that is 20.34 meters long and holds 138,000 Kilograms of solid propellant – making it one of the largest solid rocket stages ever flown. It provides a whopping thrust of 495,600 Kilograms. Clustered around the core are six Solid Rocket Boosters – each being 1 meter in diameter and 13.5 meters long holding 12,000 Kilograms of propellant. Each of the boosters provides 51,250 Kilograms of thrust.
The second stage of the launch vehicle uses storable propellants, Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine fuel and Nitrogen Tetroxide oxidizer, that are consumed by a single Vikas 4 engine that provides 81,500kg of vacuum thrust. The stage is 12.8 meters long featuring a 40,700-Kilogram propellant load.
The PS3 stage of the PSLV launcher is solid-fueled, being 2.02 meters in diameter and 3.54 meters long holding 6,700 Kilograms of HTPB-based propellant. The third stage provides a total thrust of 24,900 Kilograms. Stacked atop the third stage is the PS4 Upper Stage that again uses hypergolic propellants – Monomethylhydrazine fuel and Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen – consumed by two L-2-5 engines. The stage is 2.02 meters in diameter and 2.6 meters long featuring a fuel load of 2,920 Kilograms. Upper stage thrust is 1,500 Kilograms.
The PSLV launcher consists of a large core stage that is 20.34 meters long and holds 138,000 Kilograms of solid propellant – making it one of the largest solid rocket stages ever flown. It provides a whopping thrust of 495,600 Kilograms. Clustered around the core are six Solid Rocket Boosters – each being 1 meter in diameter and 13.5 meters long holding 12,000 Kilograms of propellant. Each of the boosters provides 51,250 Kilograms of thrust.
The second stage of the launch vehicle uses storable propellants, Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine fuel and Nitrogen Tetroxide oxidizer, that are consumed by a single Vikas 4 engine that provides 81,500kg of vacuum thrust. The stage is 12.8 meters long featuring a 40,700-Kilogram propellant load.
The PS3 stage of the PSLV launcher is solid-fueled, being 2.02 meters in diameter and 3.54 meters long holding 6,700 Kilograms of HTPB-based propellant. The third stage provides a total thrust of 24,900 Kilograms. Stacked atop the third stage is the PS4 Upper Stage that again uses hypergolic propellants – Monomethylhydrazine fuel and Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen – consumed by two L-2-5 engines. The stage is 2.02 meters in diameter and 2.6 meters long featuring a fuel load of 2,920 Kilograms. Upper stage thrust is 1,500 Kilograms.
Trajectory Design
MOM Objectives
The specific objectives of the Mars Orbiter Mission are primarily associated with spacecraft construction and mission operations as Mangalyaan serves as a pathfinder, being India’s first mission beyond the Moon which brings its own unique challenges such as the 20-minute average signal delay to Mars. The Indian Space Science Data Center has provided the following Mission Objectives:
The following scientific Objectives have been set for the Mars Orbiter Mission:
The following scientific Objectives have been set for the Mars Orbiter Mission:
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