India’s Mars Probe ‘Mangalyaan’ Back on Track After Engine Glitch

India's first Mars orbiter 'Mangalyaan'  launched on November 5 on its first interplanetary mission, successfully reached the higher orbit of Earth during the early hours of Tuesday.  This was after it suffered a slight  engine glitch during the fourth orbit raising operation.

A week into its mission, the 1,350 kilogram (3,000 pound) orbiter that is on an 11-month mission to the Red Planet faced a brief snag on Monday after the fourth engine burn that gradually nudges the probe higher, failed to raise the altitude to the desired target of 100,000 kilometer (62,000 miles). Instead the spacecraft managed to reach the orbit with a high point or apogee of just 78,722 kilometers (48,915 miles).

Also the 440 Newton liquid engines stopped during the fourth orbit raising operation when the propellant stopped flowing to the thrusters. This glitch occurred when the primary and redundant coils present in the engine's solenoid flow control valve were energized together. This led to a drop in the velocity.

On Tuesday the Indian Space Research Organization successfully completed the supplementary maneuver by raising the apogee of the spacecraft to nearly 118,000 km. The maneuver completed by 5.10 a.m. added a velocity of 124.9 m/s to the spacecraft that enabled the probe to plunge against the Earth's gravitational pull, reports the Press Trust of India.  

"The fourth supplementary orbit raising maneuver of Mars Orbiter spacecraft started at 5.03 a.m. (IST) with a burn time of 303.8 seconds and it has been successfully completed. The observed change in apogee is from 78,276 km. to 118,642 km.," ISRO said.  

The Rs. 450 crore ($72 million) Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) hopes to make new discoveries.

The Mars orbiter Mangalyaan (Mars Craft) was launched on an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. This launch marks a new era of low-cost space exploration.  India now is the fourth nation after U.S., Russia, and Europe to launch mission to Mars.