Article Posted on : - May 01, 2013

CHENNAI (PTI): Aspiring to join the select group of countries that have explored Mars, India would launch its space mission to the Red Planet in October-November this year, a top ISRO official has said.

"The (Mars Orbiter) mission is planned when Mars would be closest to the Earth. It would be launched either in the last week of October or the first week of November this year," Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman K Radhakrishnan said.

Mars would come very close to the Earth once in 26 months and the next such instance would occur during the last week of coming October and first week of November, he said at the convocation of Sathyabama University here.

By launching this mission, India would become part of the select few countries which have achieved this rare feat, he said.

India will be the sixth country to launch a mission to Mars after the U.S., Russia, Europe, Japan and China.

Under the mission, India will put in orbit a spacecraft using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The satellite will undertake a 300-day journey to Mars.

Elaborating on the mission challenges, Radhakrishnan said the closest (apogee) and farthest (perigee) points in the satellite's orbit around Mars would be 317 km and 80,000 km respectively and studies on the planet can be done effectively when the satellite is closest to the planet.

"Since the communication delay would be over 20 minutes, we have to work harder," he said.

He also said the space agency was planning to launch this year 12 missions, including indigenous GSLV.

Radhakrishnan said ISRO would use a PSLV with an extended strap on for the Mars Orbiter mission which would carry five scientific instruments, being tested now.

The ground stations for the orbiter were also "getting ready" at Bangalore.

On the preparations for the launch of GSLV with indigenous cryogenic engine, he said, "We went through an analysis of what went wrong in that stage. It was essentially due to a failure of Fuel Booster Turbo Pump, which happened for some milliseconds. We have analysed the possible reasons and we are under corrective actions."

Detailing about the present status of the vehicle, he said, tests were underway at ISRO's facility at Mahendragiri.

"We have done 35 tests in Mahendragiri to ensure that the turbo pump is ok. The flight engine that we are using for the mission has also been tested," Radhakrishnan said.

"Now, it is in the final stages of integration. In fact, yesterday, there was a review at Mahendragiri on its readiness for the launch and the committee has cleared and the final operations are going on. Then it will come to Sriharikota by May and it will take 70 days after coming to Sriharikota for the final launch," the ISRO Chairman said.

Terming the year as a "busy one" for the ISRO, he said 12 launches were planned for 2013.

India's first navigation satellite IRNSS R1 A would be launched by a PSLV in mid June from Sriharikota, he added.

"We are also getting ready for the launch of INSAT 3D satellite by Ariane 5 vehicle from French Guiana in July," he said adding, it would be followed by GSAT-7, communication satellite, the next month by the same rocket.

In the first week of August, ISRO would launch GSLV D5 with Indian cryogenic engine, with a communication satellite GSAT 14. "At the moment preparations for PSLV and GSLV are going on in Sriharikota."

He also said that an advanced launch vehicle of the experimental mission of GSLV Mark II was being developed.

He said once ISRO launched the first navigation satellite IRNSS R1A, the second in the series would be launched by March 2014.