The Indian Mars exploration missions are an ongoing series of outer space missions by the

Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO ) is India's national List of government space agencies, space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), ...

(ISRO) for the

exploration of Mars The planet Mars has been explored remotely by spacecraft. Uncrewed spacecraft, Probes sent from Earth, beginning in the late 20th century, have yielded a large increase in knowledge about the Martian system, focused primarily on understanding G ...

. The exploration is currently in the primary phase with Orbiter missions. There has been a single mission so far that deployed an orbiter around the planet which later lost its contact with the earth in 2022. A second mission planned for 2024 when the

launch window In the context of spaceflight, launch period is the collection of days, and launch window is the time period on a given day, during which a particular rocket A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsio ...

opens.MOM Orbiter enters 6th year, ISRO eyes Mangalyaan-2.
Rasheed Kappan, ''The Deccan Herald.'' 25 September 2019.

Mission

Orbiter

Mars Orbiter Mission Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), unofficially known as ''Mangalyaan'' (Sanskrit: 'Mars', 'Craft, Vehicle'), is a space probe orbiting Mars since 24 September 2014. It was launched on 5 November 2013 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO ...

The first mission, which is also known as Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) was launched in 2013 which carried

orbiter. The original mission was expected to operate for 6 months, but it lived well past its expected lifetime and lost its contact with the earth in 2022, lasting for over seven years.

Rovers and Rotocrafts

Mars Lander Mission Mars Lander Mission is a proposed second Indian mission to Mars. Unlike the previous orbiter, it will operate in a lower orbit with Periareon and Apoareon altitude closer to the Martian surface. It will also carry greater scientific payload that includes a hyperspectral camera, a very high resolution

panchromatic A panchromatic emulsion is a type of photographic emulsion that is sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light, and produces a monochrome photograph—typically black and white. Most modern commercially available film is panchromatic, and the t ...

camera and a radar to better understand the early stages of Mars, its early crust, recent basalts, and ongoing activities such as boulder falls. Furthermore ISRO has also conceptualized a Mars UAV ''Marble'' (''Martian Boundary Layer Explorer''), that will have a suite of payloads for aerial exploration of

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

. The aerial vehicle will be designed to be capable of flying up to 100 meters in the thin Martian air to profile the

Martian atmosphere The atmosphere of Mars is the layer of gases surrounding Mars. It is primarily composed of carbon dioxide (95%), molecular nitrogen (2.85%), and argon (2%). It also contains trace levels of water vapor, oxygen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and nob ...

. It is planned to be a part of

Mangalyaan 2 Mars Lander Mission (MLM) (unofficially called Mangalyaan-2) is a proposed second mission to Mars by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). History Following the successful insertion of the Mars Orbiter Mission (also called ''Mangalya ...

mission. It will conduct a high-resolution vertical profiling of critical atmospheric parameters and perform first-of-its-kind in-situ measurements in the near-surface boundary layers of Mars. The payloads will include temperature sensor, humidity sensor, pressure sensor, wind speed sensor, electric field sensor, and the trace species and dust sensor to measure vertical distribution of dust aerosols. The information was shared by Jayadev Pradeep, a scientist with the Space Physics Laboratory at the

Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) is a major space research centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), focusing on rocket and space vehicles for India's satellite programme. It is located in Thiruvananthapuram, in the India ...

, during a webinar. The mission will also have a small

rover Rover may refer to: People Name * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Stage name * Rover (musician), French singer-songw ...

List of Missions

;Mission

Gallery

One of the first images of the surface of Mars taken by the Mangalyaan on September 25, 2014.jpg, One of the first images of the surface of Mars taken by the MOM-1 on 25 September 2014. Mars as seen from Mangalyaan (MOM).png, Dust storm on northern hemisphere of Mars as seen from MOM-1 on 28 September 2014. Tharsis and Valles Marineris - Mars Orbiter Mission (30055660701).png,

Tharsis Tharsis () is a vast volcanic plateau centered near the equator in the western hemisphere of Mars. The region is home to the largest volcanoes in the Solar System, including the three enormous shield volcanoes Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons, and A ...

and

Valles Marineris Valles Marineris (; Latin for ''Mariner program, Mariner Valleys'', named after the Mariner 9 Mars orbiter of 1971–72 which discovered it) is a system of canyons that runs along the Mars, Martian surface east of the Tharsis region. At more than ...

as captured by MOM-1. Syrtis Major - Mars Orbiter Mission (29512601624).png, Syrtis Major by MOM-1. File:NorthMars.jpg, North pole of Mars by MOM-1. '' See more on ISRO's website''

References

External links

Mars Colour Camera images from ISRO
{{Future spaceflights 2013 establishments in India Indian Mars exploration programme Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO programs ISRO space probes Missions to Mars Proposed space probes