ANANTA Magazine September 2014 | Page 19

The Mars Mission can be envisaged as a rendezvous problem. Launching of Mars Orbiter from earth has been an innovative interplanetary exercise. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C25, injected the Spacecraft into an elliptical Parking Orbit with a perigee of 250 km and an apogee of 23,550 km. Further, six orbit raising manoeuvres gradually raised the apogee of the spacecraft to 1,92,874 km, using the 440 N Liquid Engine on board. The last manoeuvre, termed as Trans Mars Injection (TMI), moved the spacecraft in the Mars Transfer Trajectory (MTT). Spacecraft crosses Earth’s Sphere of Influence (SOI) and enters heliocentric elliptic cruise phase. At the end of the heliocentric phase, Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI) manoeuvre will be carried out by firing the Liquid Engine onboard and the sp