Article Posted on : - Oct 06, 2013

NASA has scheduled the launch of its MAVEN spacecraft to Mars on Nov. 19. The launch window for India's Mars Orbiter Mission is set between Oct 28 and Nov 19. An artistic illustration of the MAVEN spacecraft orbiting Mars. A NASA image

BANGALORE (PTI): ISRO has said the country's October 28 Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) is on schedule, dismissing suggestions that NASA may not be in a position to offer it deep space network support following government shutdown in the US.

"There is no delay. We are going ahead with our MOM as scheduled," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) spokesperson Deviprasad Karnik told PTI.

The Bangalore-headquartered space agency is drawing comfort from the fact that NASA has announced that it would go ahead with its own MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) mission, slated for launch as early as November 18.

This, in other words, means that NASA would have to keep its Deep Space Network (DSN) -- an international network of antennas that track interplanetary spacecraft missions -- operational.

India plans to launch its MOM spacecraft on October 28, the first day of the launch window which remains open till November 19.

Once launched, MOM would go around the Earth for 20-25 days before embarking on a nine month voyage to the Red Planet.

An ISRO official said: "We don't need NASA DSN support during initial days after the launch as small antennas can track but when it moves further and further away from Earth, we need such a support".