Correct Answer : Option (B) - 8 Years
India’s Mars Orbiter craft has run out of propellant and its battery is drained beyond the safe limit, fuelling speculation that the country’s maiden interplanetary mission Mangalyaan may have finally completed its long innings.
The ₹450 crore Mars Orbiter Mission was launched onboard PSLV-C25 on November 5, 2013, and the MOM spacecraft was successfully inserted into the Martian orbit on September 24, 2014 in its first attempt. “Right now, there is no fuel left.
The satellite battery has drained,” a source in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said. “The link has been lost.” There was, however, no official word from the country’s national space agency.
ISRO officials noted that the Mars orbiter craft functioned for almost eight years(8 Years), well beyond its designed mission life of six months.
The MOM — a technology demonstration venture — carried five scientific payloads (total 15 kg) collecting data on surface geology, morphology, atmospheric processes, surface temperature and atmospheric escape process.
The five instruments are: Mars Color Camera (MCC), Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS), Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM), Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA) and Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP).
“MOM is credited with many laurels like cost-effectiveness, short period of realisation, economical mass-budget, and miniaturisation of five heterogeneous science payloads", ISRO officials pointed out.
Highly elliptical orbit geometry of MOM enabled MCC to take snap shots of ‘Full disc’ of Mars at its farthest point and finer details from closest point.
The MCC has produced more than 1000 images and published a Mars Atlas..
Source : News18
