Article Posted on : - Sep 14, 2014

CHENNAI (PTI): India's ambitious Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), scheduled to enter the Mars orbit later this month, is in the "pink of health" and sending vital information from a distance of 211 million km after covering 95 per cent of its journey, ISRO said.

"MOM keeps sending us vital information about the health of its various modules and measurements from sensors. This is called Telemetry signal. Today's telemetry confirms that MOM is in the pink of health," Indian Space Research Organisation said on its micro-blogging site.

"MOM uses 2.2 m High Gain Antenna to send us signals from the present distance of 211 million kilometre", it said.

ISRO said the spacecraft has completed 95 per cent of its heliocentric journey towards Mars and was less than "four million kilometres" away from it.

Scientists would undertake a "challenging task" on September 24 when they would restart the onboard liquid engine, which has been in sleep mode for nearly ten months, for a critical manoeuvre of the spacecraft.

The Rs 450-crore project, named Mangalyaan, was launched from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on board the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on November 5 last year with an aim to reach the Red Planet's atmosphere by September 24.

The project is expected to provide the scientific community better opportunities in planetary research.