"Dream, Dream, Dream! Conduct these dreams into thoughts, and then transform them into action."
- Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
"Dream, Dream, Dream! Conduct these dreams into thoughts, and then transform them into action."
- Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
21 Jun 2017
It was a proud moment for India when ISRO on Monday declared that its Mars Orbiter Mission has completed 1000 earth days, well beyond its mission life of six months and is still functional and efficient.
ISRO stated that 1,000 earth days corresponds to 973.24 Mars Sols (Martian Solar day) and MOM completed 388 orbits.
India in its very first attempt had successfully placed the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft in orbit around Mars on September 24, 2014. ISRO said that the satellite is in good health and continues to work as expected and that the data relayed by it is under scientific analysis.
The Rs 450-crore MOM mission is to study the Martian surface and mineral composition, and scan its atmosphere for methane, an indicator of life on Mars.
In March 2015, ISRO announced that the spacecraft's life was extended for another six months as there is sufficient fuel. Later, in June its Chairman A S Kiran Kumar had said it has enough fuel for it to last "many years".
The MOM data is also available for researchers in the country through the MOM Announcement of Opportunity (AO) programmes launched by ISRO.
Last year, the government said that the ISRO is seeking scientific proposals for Mars Orbiter Mission-2 to expand interplanetary research.
