India's Mars orbiter craft has completed eight years in its orbit, well beyond its designed mission life of six months. Plans on a follow-on 'Mangalyaan' mission to the Red Planet, however, are yet to be firmed up.
Former President and renowned scientist A P J Abdul Kalam on Tuesday complimented Indian Space Research Organisation for the successful launch of Mars orbiter.
As NASA's Perseverance rover landed on Mars to look for signs of past life, ISRO chief K Sivan said India's next mission to the Red Planet is likely to be an orbiter.
There was, however, no official word from the country's national space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru.
India successfully placed its spacecraft in orbit around Mars, becoming the first country in the world to succeed in such an inter-planetary mission in the maiden attempt itself.
Tanmaya Nanda provides a quick guide to questions about the Mars mission you always wanted to ask but were afraid to
The first Trajectory Correction Manoeuvre of India's maiden mission to Mars was on Wednesday carried out successfully by Indian Space Research Organisation scientists on the spacecraft, which is presently travelling some 2.9 million km away from Earth.
The third of the total of five orbit raising manoeuvres of the Mars Orbiter spacecraft was performed early on Saturday, raising its apogee, the farthest point from Earth, to over 71,000 km.
Watch the live coverage of the 'Mars Orbit Insertion'.
ISRO has announced plans for seven launch missions by March, including the first uncrewed mission for the Gaganyaan project and demonstrations of new satellite technologies.
"Since its injection into Earth's orbit yesterday, it has been functioning smoothly on the orbit. We are planning to perform orbit raising manoeuvres in the early hours of of Thursday," an Indian Space Research Organisation spokesman told PTI over phone.
In a major boost to the Indian scientific community, the Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan), on its maiden tryst with the red planet, has completed 300 days of its journey in space and is just 23 days away from reaching its intended orbit.
India has completed a significant amount of work on next year's planned Mars mission for which scientific payloads have been short-listed, with formal government approval for the ambitious venture expected soon.
India's Mars mission is on track and space scientists are testing the payloads before they are integrated with the satellite.
Following are some interesting facts about the 1,350-kg 'Mangalyaan' mission and its launch
India will send a spaceship to Mars to collect important scientific information about the Red Planet, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced on Wednesday.
ISRO Chairman V Narayanan announced the development of a massive rocket capable of placing 75,000 kg payloads in low earth orbit, highlighting India's growing space capabilities and future satellite launches.
Crossing a major milestone in the country's space history, ISRO's Mars Orbiter mission ventured out of Earth's sphere of influence for the first time in an attempt to reach the red planet's orbit
"We started it by 1.17 am and have successfully completed the first orbit raising manoeuvre of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft. Right now, the computation is going on," an ISRO spokesman told PTI.
Indian Space Research Organisation has successfully realigned the orbit of its Mars Orbiter Mission 'Mangalyaan' so it is not affected by long-duration eclipse, ISRO Chairman A S Kiran Kumar said.
The Chinese Mars probe named Tianwen 1, or Quest for Heavenly Truth 1, will fulfil three scientific objectives: orbiting the red planet for comprehensive observation, landing on Martian soil and sending a rover to roam the landing site.
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams retires after 27 years, completing three missions aboard the International Space Station and setting numerous spaceflight records. She is currently visiting India.
The Mars Colour Camera onboard Indian Space Research Organisation's Mars Orbiter Mission has captured the image of Phobos, the closest and biggest moon of Mars.
India's Mars Orbiter Mission is slated to be launched on October 28 after a national committee of experts gave the go ahead for the Rs 450 crore ambitious venture after threadbare deliberations.
In a boost to the space programme, the government on Wednesday approved the Chandrayaan-4 mission to bring back moon rocks to earth, to send a spacecraft to orbit planet Venus and to expand the Gaganyaan project to build an Indian space station.
Dr Singh called up ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan to congratulate him and his team of scientists and extended best wishes for its successful future.
The Mars Orbiter Mission, or MOM, India's first planetary mission to explore Mars, has successfully completed one year around the Red planet on Thursday.
In a crucial manoeuvre ahead of India's Mars orbiter's entry into the final destination on September 24, the main liquid engine on the spacecraft was on Monday successfully test fired and its trajectory corrected.
A day after suffering a glitch during the fourth orbit raising operation on its Mars Orbiter Mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation on Tuesday successfully completed the supplementary manoeuvre, raising the spacecraft's apogee (farthest distance from Earth) to over 1,18,000 km.
Indian Space Research Organisation's Mars Orbiter, which was placed in inter-Mars trajectory in the early hours on Sunday, has crossed Moon's orbit and is travelling beyond Earth's natural satellite.
Nail-biting moments gave way to celebratory mood at the command centre of Indian Space Research Organisation in Bangalore on Wednesday, as its Mars Orbiter Mission or Mangalyaan entered the red planet's orbit.
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The 56 and-a-half hour countdown for the launch of India's first space mission to Mars, slated for November 5, commenced on Sunday at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Although the designed mission life of MOM was six months, the satellite has continued to beam back science data from Mars for the past four years.
The second orbit raising manoeuvre of India's Mars Orbiter spacecraft was performed in the early hours of Friday, three days after its successful launch by PSLV C-25 into orbit around the Earth.
Ahead of India's Mars orbiter's scheduled rendezvous with the red planet on September 24, ISRO is all set for the crucial fourth trajectory correction manoeuvre and test fire of the main liquid engine on the spacecraft on Monday.
Kwatra termed India's successful launch of an American communication satellite on Wednesday as a 'very important and big day' for partnership between Washington and New Delhi, saying it caps a series of achievements in 2025 in bilateral space cooperation between the countries.
A PSLV rocket carrying Earth observation satellite EOS-09 failed to launch from the Sriharikota spaceport early on Sunday.
The Indian Space Research Organisation on Saturday said the country's October 28 Mars Orbiter Mission was on schedule, dismissing suggestions that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration may not be in a position to offer it deep space network support following the government shutdown in the United States.
ISRO Chairman V Narayanan announces ambitious space program goals, including landing Indians on the Moon by 2040 and launching the 'Gaganyaan' mission in 2027. The agency is also working on a national space station and uncrewed missions.
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