tech2 News Staff

The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) has been in orbit around the red planet for over two years now, and has no plans of stopping any time soon. The first interplanetary mission by Isro was originally expected to last six months, but the scientists have managed to extend the duration of the mission, and will continue to do so in the near future.

The orbiter and the scientific instruments on board are in good health, so the orbiter will continue to beam back images and data.

On board are five scientific payloads. There is a colour camera for imaging the surface of the planet. The methane sensor measures the amount of methane in the Martian atmosphere, which could potentially discover signs of life on Mars. There is a Thermal Infra-Red Imaging Spectrometer, to monitor the surface temperature of the planet.

There is a Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyzer for analysing small particles, and a Lyman-Alpha Photometer to measure the abundance of Deuterium and Hydrogen. The instruments were built in Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram and Bengaluru.

The Mars Orbiter Mission has completed all of its objectives. Demonstrating the interplanetary capabilities of Isro scientists was one of the main missions of the orbiter. Apart from Mars, the orbiter has also captured images of the moons of Mars. The data collected is being shared with agencies and scientific organisations around the world.

A portion of the data is even available to the public. The continuous monitoring allows for the Mars Orbiter to study the planet through various seasons. While the orbiter may be functioning, the Twitter stream has gone silent since 1 January this year.

https://twitter.com/MarsOrbiter/status/682787412821463040