The Indian Mars Orbiter (MOM) mission could finally reach the end of its operations after eight years of orbit around the Red Planet.
Earth station managed by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Lost contact with the ship. The exact cause is still unclear. The orbiter may have run out of fuel, the MOM’s battery may have depleted beyond safe operating limits, or automated maneuvers may be disrupting communications, according to media reports.
After I worked on Mars For eight years, MOM, also called Mangalyaan, exceeded its planned mission life by only 6-10 months. The rover was launched in November 2013 and entered orbit around Mars in September 2014.
Related: India’s first mission to Mars in pictures (gallery)
Although the Islamic Space Research Organization has not yet released an official statement, an official source told local newspapers Hindu That the “satellite battery” is exhausted and that the connection with the MOM is “lost”.
MOM carries a solar panel wing measuring 4.6 by 6 feet (1.4 by 1.8 meters) made up of three panels mounted to one side of the spacecraft. The array can generate 800 watts of power on Mars and charge lithium-ion batteries, but the spacecraft recently faced a series of eclipses that could affect its charging capacity.
“Recently, there have been consecutive eclipses, including one lasting seven and a half hours,” said an unnamed ISRO source. Hindu.
Another unnamed official told the newspaper, “Since the satellite’s battery is designed to handle an eclipse of only about 1 hour and 40 minutes, longer eclipses will drain the battery beyond safe limits.”
My mother had just emerged from a long eclipse in April, but by the time she recovered, the ship had probably run out of remaining fuel. At launch, the MOM was carrying approximately 1,880 pounds (852 kilograms) of fuel to power the main propulsion engine and eight small thrusters used for altitude control.
It’s also possible that the communication error was a result of the automated MOM system kicking it out of another eclipse, according to an unnamed official comment on Indian time. The system may have caused the orbiter to make a circular rotation to change direction, directing the MOM antenna facing Earth away from our planet and the spacecraft falling into silence.
MOM had previously survived power outages during its first and second years around Mars and recovered completely independently without any help from Earth. Early indications were that this new outage was permanent, however, multiple sources told the Times of India that whatever the cause, the spacecraft would not be able to recover.
“We are now trying to determine the exact cause – whether it was running out of fuel or if the antenna was unable to communicate,” an unnamed senior scientist told the Times of India. “But one thing is certain, we won’t be able to get that spaceship back.”
MOM is India’s first interplanetary mission and makes ISRO the fourth space agency to reach orbit around the Red Planet. The spacecraft reaches Mars just in time to catch up spring side of the comet 19 October 2014.
The mission’s main goal is to test the technology needed for interplanetary exploration and use its tools to study the surface and atmosphere of Mars from orbit.
On-board instruments include a color camera, a thermal infrared sensor, an ultraviolet spectrometer used to study deuterium and hydrogen in the upper atmosphere of Mars, and a mass spectrometer to study neutral particles in the outer layers of the Martian surface. . atmosphere of Mars.
MOM also carries sensors designed to search for methane, a molecule that, if present, could indicate that life once existed on the Red Planet. ISRO did not disclose the results of the tool.
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