India to launch Mars mission on Nov 5

India's ambitious space mission to explore Mars would be launched on November 5 from the spaceport of Sriharikota, Indian Space Research Organisation(Isro) said today.

India's ambitious space mission to explore Mars would be launched on November 5 from the spaceport of Sriharikota, Indian Space Research Organisation(Isro) said on Tuesday

‘The launch of India's first interplanetary probe, Mars Orbiter Spacecraft onboard PSLV-C25 (in its XL version), is scheduled on November 5, 2013 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. The lift-off time is at 14:36 hrs IST,” an Isro spokesperson told HT.

The spacecraft has been integrated to the launch vehicle and we expect the countdown to begin from November 3, he added.

One of the main objectives of the first Indian mission to Mars is to develop the technologies required for design, planning, management and operations of an interplanetary mission.

The initial launch for the MOM was slated for October 28. It was decided to defer the launch because of the delay in the arrival of the Indian ship-borne terminals to their intended location, about 300 nautical miles from the Fiji island.

The launch window for the MOM mission is from October 28 to November 19. The American NASA/JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) is also providing communications and navigation support to this mission with their deep space network facilities.

Mars Orbiter Mission —onboard PSLV-C25, is India’s maiden effort to explore the red planet. It will place India among the six nations to launch a mission to Mars.

After leaving the Earth’s orbit, the spacecraft will cruise in deep space for about ten months using its own propulsion system and will reach Martian transfer trajectory in September 2014.