Bangalore: The successful launch of the country's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) today, is only part of the country's first inter-planetary venture story. The space odyssey is long and complex.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is now looking forward to two key dates - December 1, when the MOM spacecraft leaves the earth's sphere of influence and September 24 next year, when it's captured by Martian orbit.
The spacecraft launched today would go around the earth for 25 days before the ISRO plans to do trans-Mars injection at 0.42 hours on December 1 enabling it to undertake the long voyage towards the Red planet.
“This injection has to be precise as it will estimate where the satellite would be on September 24, 2014 - plus or minus 50 kms from the designated orbit around Mars (366 kms X 80,000 kms),” an ISRO official told PTI.
