India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) Probe, planned for 6 months, completes 7 years in Orbit

Mangalyaan, also known as the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) has completed 7 years in orbit, well beyond its designed mission life of six months. “Indeed, a satisfying feeling,” K Radhakrishnan who as the then Chairman of Indian Space Research Oranisation (ISRO) led the Mars Orbiter Mission team told PTI on the milestone.

The ISRO had successfully inserted the Mangalyaan into orbit on September 24, 2014, in its first attempt. The spacecraft which was initially planned just for six months was ISRO’s maiden interplanetary mission. On September 24, 2021, MOM completed 7 years in orbit and is expected to have a mission life of another year. MOM is the maiden interplanetary mission of ISRO. Launched on November 5, 2013, the probe was successfully inserted into Martian orbit on September 24, 2014 in its first attempt. MOM is primarily a technology demonstration venture and all the mission objectives were successfully met, according to officials of Bengaluru-headquartered India’s national space agency. According to ISRO, some of the main lessons learnt were in the field of design and realisation of systems and subsystems, launch for interplanetary mission, insertion into other planet’s orbit, operation of the spacecraft and scientific instruments around Mars orbit, they said. The insights given by MOM will help India take up future interplanetary missions.