Inspiring generations, complex tech, clinching deals: Isro launched a new future with Mangalyaan
From the feasibility study of June 2011, which said that Isro’s most tested launch vehicle, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), could be used for a mission to Mars, to the early hours of December 1, when the spacecraft was injected into its Mars transfer orbit, it’s been an exciting journey.
If the mission could be broken into three steps, then I’d say we’ve passed the first two—getting it into earth orbit, then the injection into a planned orbit around the Sun—and are now ready for the third, on September 24, 2014: Reducing the orbiter’s velocity significantly for its entry into the Mars orbit.
With the remote sensing and geostationary missions which Isro has been performing for the past two decades, if you missed an operation you could do it in the next orbit. The Mars mission, however, is unique: Miss one operation and the spacecraft could drift off anywhere.
(This story appears in the 10 January, 2014 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)