India's biggest achievment Mangalyaan reaches Mars orbit

 Its glorious and proudly  day for every Indian. India creates history, Mangalyaan reaches Mars orbit on maiden try.

  It will happen this morning when India’s first-ever planetary probe, the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), is pushed by its main engine into an elliptical orbit around Mars.

  MOM and Mars are on different Sun-centric orbits and the spacecraft’s primary engine must fire to alter its heliocentric path enough for the planet’s gravity to take hold and pull MOM into its orbit.

"History has been created by our scientists", said PM Narendra Modi in his speech immediately after the scientists declared the mission a success. "We have dared to reach out to the unknown."

"When our cricketers win a tournament, we celebrate in a big way. What these scientists have achieved is thousand times bigger," the PM said.

This is the riskiest part as any glitch would force MOM to miss the rendezvous and blindly sweep past the planet into space.

MOM, however, carries insurance in the form of eight smaller motors to nudge the spacecraft into Mars orbit, though in a different orbital path than the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) intends.

MOM’s rendezvous with Mars happens at about the same time as Nasa’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) probe, but all eyes are on the Indian mission as no other spacefaring nation (except Europe whose Mars Express is currently orbiting Mars) was first time lucky on the Red Planet.

Japan’s Mars orbiter, Nozomi, launched in 1998, reached Mars but its engine failed and it continued on a heliocentric orbit before being shut down. Even the United States — a seasoned hand at Mars exploration — had so many heartbreaks with its early Mars missions that Nasa’s success rate barely touches 40% — despite recent successes.

Russia’s record is much bleaker: More than 50% of its Mars missions suffered launch failures, the biggest disappointment being the ambitious Phobos-Grunt sample return probe in 2011 (which, along with China’s Mars probe Yinghuo-1 — carried on the same rocket — failed to leave Earth’s orbit).

Against this background, Isro chief K Radhakrishnan was being modest when he recently announced that “85% of Isro’s mission objectives would have been met” if MOM successfully orbits Mars.

Isro scientists put together the mission in a record time of 15 months. That they have done it at a low cost of $73 million (a Boeing 777-9X, for comparison, costs $390 million) has made it the envy of other space agencies in the world.

Isro operates on a small budget which is just 0.34% of India’s budget. India’s space effort is three-pronged, with the foci on satellites, launch vehicles and planetary exploration, in that order.

 - See more at: Hindustan Times

A Sputnik moment will happen this morning when India’s first-ever planetary probe, the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), is pushed by its main engine into an elliptical orbit around Mars. - See more at: http://www.hindustantimes.com/comment/analysis/india-makes-an-impression-on-mars/article1-1267641.aspx?hts0021#sthash.vPXDIxBi.dpuf