A nod to India’s successful, cost effective mission to Mars.
By Dileep Thekkethil
A documentary based on India’s maiden Mars odyssey, the “Mars Orbiter Mission”, which is touted to be the most cost effective mission to Mars, will premiere on the National Geographic Channel, on November 5.
According to National Geographic Channel, the one-hour documentary on MOM will show the step-by-step progress of the mission, including its making and challenges the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) faced during different stages of the mission.
The documentary is expected to be an image booster for ISRO, which is currently receiving orders from other countries for putting payloads into orbit. The Mars Orbiter Mission was made successful by a 100-mmember team of ISRO. The team also won US-based National Space Society’s 2015 Space Pioneer Award in the science and engineering category.
The documentary on MOM is getting ready for telecast exactly two years after the payload carrying MOM was launched from Sriharikota on November 5, 2013. After four Orbit raising maneuvers, the mission was ejected into the Martian orbit on November 30. MOM finally reached near Mars on 23 September 2014.
ISRO can be proud for the simple reason that National Geographic is airing the show in the US, this because a few days after the launch of MOM, NASA had launched their Mars mission called MAVEN, which reached Mars two days ahead of MOM. But, MOM was by far more cost effective as MAVEN project cost up to $671 million, whereas MOM total project cost was not more than ₹454 crore (US$69 million.)
The success of MOM was a befitting answer to those who were skeptical about the ability of ISRO in achieving a feat that only three other foreign space agencies have successfully done. Also, it made India the first country to reach Mars orbit on its first attempt and also the first Asian country to successfully send an orbiter to Mars.
MOM has been sending images back to the command station in Bangalore.
The Director of ISRO, M Annadurai had announced that the team behind MOM will meet to take note of the different aspects of the mission including thermal systems, communication, and power performance so that they can create a successful reference for future space missions.
The documentary which will be aired tomorrow reportedly has footage of the assembling of the spacecraft, probably provided by ISRO. The documentary was completed with the cooperation of the key members of the Mars Orbiter Mission.