Mangalyaan on right trajectory, first crucial manoeuvre on December 11

by Seva Lamberdar Wed Dec 04, 2013 3:32 pm

HYDERABAD: After the successful trans-Mars injection, MOM is steadily cruising through interplanetary space and is religiously following the desired trajectory.

In order to precisely steer MOM to Mars, Isro has planned four mid-course corrections using the 22 N thrusters on board.

"In line with our fetish for jargon, the fancy term coined for these operations is trajectory correction manoeuvre (TCM)!" Isro scientists said.

The first of this series of crucial maneuvers is scheduled one week from now on December 11, 2013. The subsequent TCMs are scheduled for April, August and early September next year.

Rakesh Patil who has been following the whole Mars affair, however, has a question for Isro scientists. "Is this the best possible shortest route?"

Scientists responded to his question. "It's not the shortest route," they said. The shortest distance between Mars and Earth is 54.6 million kilometres. Launching in the shortest route possible to Mars and then, decelerating to match the planet's speed, would require an extremely large amount of fuel," scientists explained.

Isro scientists said the route which requires least amount of fuel is an elliptical orbit which forms a tangent to the Mars' and Earth's Orbit around sun. This kind of transfer is called a Hohmann transfer.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Mangalyaan-on-right-trajectory-first-crucial-manoeuvre-on-December-11/articleshow/26867565.cms

by indophile Wed Dec 04, 2013 4:52 pm

"Shortest route" is not a concern. It's the cheapest route they are after, and they should be. There are no animals or humans or perishables in the orbiter. If they arrive there a week later, so what? In fact the U.S. Maven took a more direct route and it's going to get there only a few days early (they are both scheduled for September 2014).

by Seva Lamberdar Thu Dec 05, 2013 9:26 am

indophile wrote:"Shortest route" is not a concern. It's the cheapest route they are after, and they should be. There are no animals or humans or perishables in the orbiter. If they arrive there a week later, so what? In fact the U.S. Maven took a more direct route and it's going to get there only a few days early (they are both scheduled for September 2014).

The U.S. gained the time advantage in its Mars mission against MOM mostly in the initial stages, by reaching the far-off apogee point for U.S. Mars orbiter in just two burn-outs at perigee (by spending more fuel) than in the case of MOM (taking four burn-outs at perigee at less fuel expense and thus spending more time going around Earth and using Earth's gravity to build up its speed and distance to apogee). The rest of the journey for both spacecraft (MOM and the American) to Mars I think is basically of the same type (using the Hohmann trajectory(s) corresponding to the minimum energy use).

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Mangalyaan on right trajectory, first crucial manoeuvre on December 11

Mangalyaan on right trajectory, first crucial manoeuvre on December 11

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Re: Mangalyaan on right trajectory, first crucial manoeuvre on December 11