Posted on Wednesday, October 02, 2013
The next launch window to Mars will be occurring in the end of October - beginning of November this year. Because of that there are several Mars missions that are supposed to be launched soon enough.
One of those is the Mangalyaan mission by the Indian Space Reasearch Organisation (ISRO) that is scheduled for liftoff on October 28 form ISRO's launch site in Sriharikota, Andra Pradesh. This would be the first Mars mission for India. This mission is also going to be one of the latest dates for a launch from Sriharikota, as the monsoons makes it possibly dangerous/impossible to launch rockets at that date and later dates as well.
There is another Mars mission scheduled to launch during the same window. NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) is another orbiter mission, that is scheduled for lift-off on November 18. The US government shutdown might affect this mission if it lasts for a longer period.
Both of these missions are orbiter missions with the main aim in finding out more about Mars atmosphere. However Mangalyaan has also an important part in demonstrating the technology in development and available for ISRO.
Here's a nice trailer about the MAVEN mission:
And a news-clip about Mangalyaan:
One of those is the Mangalyaan mission by the Indian Space Reasearch Organisation (ISRO) that is scheduled for liftoff on October 28 form ISRO's launch site in Sriharikota, Andra Pradesh. This would be the first Mars mission for India. This mission is also going to be one of the latest dates for a launch from Sriharikota, as the monsoons makes it possibly dangerous/impossible to launch rockets at that date and later dates as well.
There is another Mars mission scheduled to launch during the same window. NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) is another orbiter mission, that is scheduled for lift-off on November 18. The US government shutdown might affect this mission if it lasts for a longer period.
Both of these missions are orbiter missions with the main aim in finding out more about Mars atmosphere. However Mangalyaan has also an important part in demonstrating the technology in development and available for ISRO.
Here's a nice trailer about the MAVEN mission:
And a news-clip about Mangalyaan:
Labels: isro, Mangalyaan, mars, Mars missions, MAVEN