The Mars Orbiter has successfully executed a ‘course correction’ manoeuvre — the first of a series of four planned — to eliminate minor deviations in its trajectory. The Orbiter executed the manoeuvre at 6.30 am on Wednesday by firing its 22 Newton thrusters for 40.5 seconds.
MOM commanded the thrusters on board to fire in order to attain the necessary incremental velocity. During this critical exercise MOM was about 2.9 million km away from earth. On account of the distance, the amount of time needed for the signal to go and come back was 20 seconds. Hence, the entire operation was managed by the on-board computer.
Three more such manoeuvres have been have been planned — in April, August and September — prior to the Mars orbit insertion. According to Isro, the purpose of the manoeuvres is to fine tune the trajectory to achieve the right conditions for Mars capture.
MOM commanded the thrusters on board to fire in order to attain the necessary incremental velocity. During this critical exercise MOM was about 2.9 million km away from earth. On account of the distance, the amount of time needed for the signal to go and come back was 20 seconds. Hence, the entire operation was managed by the on-board computer.
Three more such manoeuvres have been have been planned — in April, August and September — prior to the Mars orbit insertion. According to Isro, the purpose of the manoeuvres is to fine tune the trajectory to achieve the right conditions for Mars capture.
No comments:
Post a Comment