India’s Rs.450-crore Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) left the Earth’s orbit in the early hours of Sunday, embarking on a 300-day journey to the Red Planet.
A senior Isro official said the craft now enters the heliocentric orbit — a solar orbit where comets, asteroids and probe vehicles are in motion — before making a giant leap into the designated Martian orbit in September.
Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan described the MOM leaving the Earth’s orbit as the second-most challenging operation for the team after it successfully launched the spacecraft aboard India’s trusted launch vehicle — the polar satellite launch vehicle — on November 5.
Four course corrections are planned from now on — around December 11, in April, August and on September 14. The craft is expected to enter the designated Martian orbit at 7.14 am on September 24.
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