The Mars Orbiter Mission, India's first orbiter to the red planet Mars is nearing its destination with only 14% of journey to complete. At this stage, it is ready for a procedure to insert Mars Orbiter Mission's antenna into Mars orbit, what they call "Mars Orbit Insertion".
ISRO on their Facebook page said that they recently completed the characterization of Medium Gain Antenna of MOM which will be used for all communication between the orbiter and Earth during the Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI). And they said that it has only 14% of journey in the heliocentric arc towards the Mars.
The scientist crew of the mission said that they will not perform the Trajectory Correction Manoeuvre (TCM) for MOM last week, as they said that it is already on the track. This means, they've made only 3 out of 4 TCMs. However the orbiter is estimated to reach the Mars in about 47 days from now.
MOM is the country's first mission to Mars or a planet of the Solar System, moreover it is a very budget-friendly project under Rs 450 crore (around 83 million USD). Previously the country had made a similar mission to Moon (Chandrayaan I) and they're planning on several others like one to the Sun.
Also Read: India's ISRO plans a mini Hubble Telescope for space
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