MARS
ORBITER SPACECRAFT'S MAIN LIQUID ENGINE
SUCCESSFULLY TEST FIRED
The
440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM)
of India's Mars Orbiter Spacecraft, last fired on December 01, 2013, was
successfully fired for a duration of 3.968 seconds at 1430 hrs IST today
(September 22, 2014). This operation of the spacecraft's main liquid engine was
also used for the spacecraft's trajectory correction and changed its velocity
by 2.18 metre/second. With this successful
test firing, Mars Orbiter Insertion (MOI) operation of the spacecraft is
scheduled to be performed on the morning of September
24, 2014 at 07:17:32 hrs IST by firing the LAM along with eight smaller
liquid engines for a duration of about 24 minutes.
India will be the first
country to enter the Mars orbit on a maiden mission if it succeeds.
It will also be the first Asian country and ISRO the fourth space agency to
send a satellite to the Red Planet.
European, US and Russian probes have managed to orbit or land on the planet,
but after several attempts.
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