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.
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.
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.
It takes only two hours - roughly the time it takes for a plane to fly from Delhi to Mumbai - for a pair of pilots to complete their training on the 737 MAX simulator at Boeing's centre in Noida, the only one of its kind in India. Going by this estimate, all the 90 Spicejet pilots who the civil aviation regulator barred from flying the 737 MAX can be retrained in 90 hours.
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.
The Rs 978 crore mission, which has been rescheduled for Monday after scientists corrected the glitch in the rocket, will be launched at 2.43 p.m from the second launchpad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, over 100 km from Chennai.
If the challenge of the government is to regain the confidence of the minorities, it has to first overpower its own unruly gangs and their heroic masters, says Sunil Varghese.