Bengaluru: Some “baby commands” were all that were beamed to Mangalyaan by Indian space scientists on Tuesday as they stood on the threshold of a historic moment when the Orbiter glides into an orbit around Mars in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi early on Wednesday. Dr S K Shivakumar, Director, ISRO's Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bengaluru, where the orbiter was assembled, summed up the mood of his colleagues on the eve of the big leap forward: “Our confidence levels are quite high. We do not need to worry about anything as all parameters of onboard systems are normal.”
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Today’s commands are to prompt the orbiter to beam data to ground stations in India, the United States, Australia and Spain. About 1000 commands for the crucial operation on Wednesday were fed to the Orbiter last week. Space scientists spent the morning huddled in a meeting on checks and counterchecks to be carried out on Mangalyaan on Wednesday and later rushed home to catch forty winks before returning to the Spacecraft Control Centre at ISRO’s Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) facility in the wee hours for operations preceding insertion into an orbit around Mars.
Sources in ISRO said Mangalyaan was 4,60,000 km away from Mars on Tuesday and would be about 515 km from the Red Planet when time-tagged commands activate the motor onboard for 24.23 minutes. This tricky manoeuvre ensures a reduction in speed of the Orbiter so that it comes under gravity of Mars. Sources said in case the motor develops a snag, eight thrusters onboard would be switched on to reduce the speed of the orbiter and ensure its entry into an orbit around Mars.
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Scientists of NASA, who have been monitoring the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) at the behest of their Indian counterparts, posted a message on ISRO’s Facebook: “Good luck MOM! From your JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) family!”
