Indian Mars mission hit by snag

[muriel_volestrangler]

India's mission to Mars has hit a snag, after a planned engine burn failed to raise the spacecraft's orbit around Earth by the intended amount.

The problem occurred during a manoeuvre designed to boost the craft's maximum distance from 71,623km to 100,000km.

A problem with the liquid fuel thruster caused the 1,350kg vehicle to fall short of the mark.
...
This was the fourth in a series of five engine burns known as "midnight manoeuvres" because several constraints require that they are carried out in the early hours of the morning.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24900271

This is the risk on their mission - because they didn't have their more powerful rocket ready in time, they're having to do this with a smaller final stage. And that means multiple short burns at perigee in Earth orbit to take advantage of the Oberth effect - a rocket burn has more effect when you're going faster, lower in a gravity well. This way they gradually build up the furthest distance from Earth over many orbits, until they finally go for escape velocity. But starting and stopping your rocket multiple times means a greater chance of some component going wrong.

[PoliticAverse]

1. They should have outsourced it to NASA... n/t

Last edited Mon Nov 11, 2013, 09:07 PM - Edit history (1)

[Posteritatis]

3. NASA's batting about .500 as well. (nt)

[Ghost Dog]

2. Thanks for the info.

Seems, they're saying they still have a chance to make it away out of this gravity-hole... But it'll be more hands-on, less pre-programmed, at this rate.

Nice to see...

I want to see under Venus's clouds, up close and intimate, again...

[Posteritatis]

4. Getting another camera under Venus' clouds would be great. (nt)

[Ghost Dog]

5. Mmmm. So, what's stopping us?

(Apart from the heat and the pressure, where I think we're by now capable of sending instruments that could cope, that is)?

Something mythological? Respect?

We don't want to violate her.

[Posteritatis]

6. Engineering concerns and people interested in other, easier targets

Anything we sent there even today would have a pretty short lifespan. Short of sending a probe into the sun or deep into the gas giants, Venus is the single most hostile environment in the solar system by a pretty fantastic margin. Anything going there is going to have a shorter lifespan than the Titan landers, and a lot of the ongoing space probes are leaning more towards impressively long-duration things.

[Ghost Dog]

7. Just allow me a few minutes with her.

I'm sure it would be worth it the effort.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. India Mars mission back on track after engine glitch

India's Mars spacecraft was "successfully" raised into a higher orbit around Earth early on Tuesday, after a brief engine failure during an earlier attempt, the space agency said.
...
Lacking a large enough rocket to blast directly out of Earth's atmosphere and gravitational pull, the Indian spacecraft is orbiting Earth until the end of the month while building up enough velocity to break free.

On Tuesday, the spacecraft completed a fourth repositioning to take it 100,000 kilometres (62,000 miles) from Earth, after the thruster engines failed during an attempt on Monday, leading the auto-pilot to take over.

"Fourth supplementary orbit raising manoeuvre of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft... has been successfully completed," the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gXPHsn5oeT9hfof8sHltQGwXYIJQ?docId=b4be0f55-326d-47f5-b9f3-b955fa92fd6a

[Ghost Dog]

9. Good.

http://www.aridisland.com/records/?p=329 (#3: Flying!).