Through its first mission to Mars on Tuesday, India aims to become the only Asian nation to reach the Red Planet. A rocket carrying a 1.35-tonne unmanned probe will blast off from Sriharikota spaceport beginning a 300-day journey to study the Martian atmosphere
Reuters
The Mangalyaan launch as it happened
4.02 pm: After nine and a half months, Mangalyaan is expected to be put in the Mars orbit
4.00 pm: Madan Lal, scientist, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre: Biggest challenges ahead. Real challenge is Mars transfer trajectory and insertion of Mangalyaan into Mars orbit.
3.59 pm: Raghunandan, space scientist: The key achievment has been the injection of the satellite at the right time and at the right spot. The burning of the engine will be done in five phases. The most crucial manoeuvre is firing the engine after about 300 days and inject the satellite into the Mars orbit
3.59 pm: Prof U R Rao, former chairman, ISRO: A great day for the space department. We can say that for the first time, India has become mature. It's the biggest day for the whole of India, and I wonder why people are making a fuss over Rs 500 crore being spent on the programme. I'm glad we have done it.
3.58 pm: Kiran Kumar, director of space applications, ISRO: Our baby has been put into space. The baby is up in the sky. From the launch vehicle, it is now in the hands of the scientists. The first step has been successfully achieved.
3.57 pm: Mars orbiter separated from rocket, placed in Earth's orbit
3.57 pm: President congratulates ISRO scientists
3.56 pm: PM congratulates scientists for successful launch of Mangalyaan
3.56 pm: Chandradathan, director, liquid propulsion centre: We have successfully achieved the first stage of launch. I assure the nation that we will be working with the same spirit for all the other missions.
3.53 pm: S Ramakrishnan, director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre: This involves maximum energy. Crossing this milestone is extremely important for us. Any mission is not beyond our capability.
3.50 pm: ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan: We have achieved the task of injecting the satellite in the Mars orbit.
3.49 pm: Mangalyaan has been injected into the orbit at the right spot.
3.48 pm: Mangalyaan has been successfully separated from the rocket
3.47 pm: Separation achieved
3.46 pm: 3 minutes from now, satellite and rocket will be separated
3.45 pm: Last five minutes of the launch and the most crucial one.
3.41 pm: Amitava Ghosh, renowned scientist: Difficult mission. It's important to develop capability and do something unique. It's important to make a meaningful contribution.
3.39 pm: Madan Lal, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre: It's import to ignite the rocket after a gap of 1,000 seconds after launch.
3.37 pm: 4th stage ignition has been performed successfully
3.25 pm: Nalanda and Harsha ships helping in tracking the rocket
3.23 pm: Rocket at a speed of 7.14 km per second speed
3.22 pm: All the velocities, distances have been met so far by the rocket
3.20 pm: Altitude is a little more than it should be. Rocket is 'overperforming'.
3.20 pm: Madan Lal: PSLV is the most reliable launch vehicle
3.17 pm: Madan Lal, scientist, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre: It's a coasting stage for the rocket now. Fourth stage is the ignition stage. After the fourth stage, Mangalyaan will be injected into the right orbit
3.15 pm: Once the rocket reaches a particular height, the satellite will be released
3.13 pm: Rocket currently at a height of 325 km
3.10 pm: Mukund Rao, ex-ISRO director: Rocket has to reach the right altitude - 340 km - and the right point, only after which the satellite will go into the right orbit
3.07 pm: Mangalyan will get separated 44-45 minutes after the launch
3.05 pm: Rocket has reached a range of 5,600 km
3.03 pm: Rocket currently at an altitude of 280 km
3.00 pm: After 300 days, it will come into the Martian orbit
2.58 pm: Engine-restarting manoeuvre after about two days. First 25 days, rocket will be under the influence of the Earth. After that, it will go out of Earth's orbit
2.56 pm: 5 more manoeuvres to be done
2.53 pm: Before PS4 ignition could happen, rocket should reach an altitude of 290 km
2.50 pm: Rocket has reached a distance of 3,000-plus kilometres and a height of 200 km
2.47 pm: Launch vehicle coasting smoothly towards fourth separation
2.45 pm: A 45-minute mission. Rocket currently altitude of 155 km
2.42 pm: Two ships deployed for tracking the movement of the rocket
2.41 pm: All systems working smoothly and operational
2.40 pm: Third stage ignited
2.39 pm: Critical first stage. It has been achieved.
2.39 pm: Velocity of 2.35 km per second achieved. Four steps accomplished successfully
2.38 pm: Rocket carrying Mars satellite lifts off
2.35 pm: Ajay Lele, research fellow, IDSA: Indian space programme has done a marvelleous job. We've done the moon mission. 10 missions launched. This is a flagship mission.
2.34 pm: After 9.5 months, satellite will be near the vicinity of Mars
2.33 pm: A silver jubilee launch for ISRO
2.32 pm: Mars orbiter to lift off shortly from Sriharikota
2.30 pm: Automatic launch sequence will be launched anytime now
2.27 pm: A special key will launch the automatic sequence for the launch. After lift-off, the Mars control will take over.
2.25 pm: Mars satellite made in record 15 months
2.24 pm: Orbiter will reach Mars orbit in September 14
2.15 pm: Though there have been 51 missions to the red planet by some countries, only 21 have been considered successful, according to Nasa.
2.11 pm: The 1,337 kg Mars Orbiter with 852 kg fuel and 15 kg of scientific instruments is expected to reach Mars' orbit on September 14, 2014.
2.08 pm: After having received 33 ideas for instruments to be flown to Mars, Isro shortlisted nine, of which the Advisory Committee of Space Sciences headed by Prof U R Rao finalised five instruments as only these were mature enough for the flight.
2.05 pm: While LAP and MSM would help in atmospheric studies,MENCA would focus on studying particle environment.MCC and TIS would contribute to studying the surface imaging of the red planet.
2.03 pm: The Mars Orbiter carries five scientific instruments to study the red planet - Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP), Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM), Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA), Mars Colour Camera (MCC) and Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS).
2.01 pm: Once injected into orbit by the launch vehicle, the spacecraft trajectory post separation would be tracked from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory facilities at Goldstone (U.S), Madrid (Spain) and Canberra (Australia).
1.59 pm: Two sea-borne terminals equipped with a 4.6 metre antenna and a 1.8 metre antenna on board Shipping Corporation of India's SCI Nalanda and SCI Yamuna (some 2500 km between them) in South Pacific Ocean will track the vehicle as it injects the Mars Orbiter mission into Earth's orbit.
1.57 pm: The vehicle trajectory will be tracked by monitoring stations at the Space Centre in Sriharikota, Indian Deep Station Network at Byalulu near Bangalore and Down Range Station at Port Blair in India and also from Biak in Indonesia and Brunei.
1.55 pm: Unlike other PSLV missions, PSLV C25 will take more than 40 minutes to inject the Mars Orbiter into Earth's orbit as it has a long coasting phase (1,700 seconds) for the launch and has to achieve an "argument" of perigee of 276.4 degrees.
1.53 pm: Isro has put in place an extensive network of stations worldwide to track the Mars Orbiter Mission after launch from the first launch pad here at 2.38pm.
1.52 pm: India's Mars Orbiter is expected to reach the red planet's orbit by September 2014 and look for the presence of methane, an indicator of life there.
1.50 pm: This is the first time the national space agency is aspiring to send a mission to study a celestial body outside Earth's sphere of influence.
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