Mangalyaan Updates 8th October 2017

Image Information:

Image : Mars
Taken By : Mars Colour Camera
Satellite : Mangalyaan - Mars Orbiter Mission
Country : India
Date of Image Taken : 8th October 2017
Image Taken from altitude : 70, 157 km
Image Information : It covers Olympus Mons, three volcano systems, Arsa Mons, Pavonis mons, Ascraeus mons opposite to Olympus mons
Officially Image Released at : https://www.isro.gov.in
Image Url site : https://www.isro.gov.in/pslv-c25-mars-orbiter-mission/global-shot-of-mars-taken-mom

About Mangalyaan:

     Mangalyaan is the first successful Indian spacecraft that reached Mars in first attempt. It was launched in Dec 2013 by Indian Space Research Organisation. It reached Mars on 24 September 2014 after 10 months of travel towards Mars. It have been taking number of images of Mars by its one of the instrument Mars Colour Camera.

Mangalyaan First Year Data Photos:

     This video shows the slideshow of Mangalyaan first year processed images taken by Mars Colour Camera, one of its on-board instrument.

Further Links:

ISRO Official Website : https://www.isro.gov.in/

Youtube Channel for Mangalyaan Data Slideshow : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKF2RI3zwJo&t=83s

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Dr.Stephen Hawking Thesis Published

   The World's most famous space scientists who contributed to the modern space science and black holes, Dr.Stephen Hawking. His Thesis in 1966 was published in the Cambridge university website. The off was made online available today. After the publication the server was crashed due to several million visitors and downloads. This is the thesis which helped Dr.Stephen Hawking to get his Post Doctrate Ph.D.

You can download the thesis in pdf form at at https://web.archive.org/web/20171023010103/https:/www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/251038

Credits : Dr.Stephen Hawking

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Gravity (2013) Full Movie

Movie Name - Gravity
Movie Type  - Space Movie 
Rating - 7.8 / 10
Directed by - Alfonso Cuaron
Written by - Alfonso Cuaron & Jonas Cuaron
Duration -  1 Hour 31 Minutes
Released - 7th November 2013
Language - English
Production - Warner Bros
Country - United States & United Kingdom
Box Office - $100,000,000
Gravity Casts:

• Sandra Bullock
• George Clooney
• Ed Harris
• Orto Ignatiussen
• Phaldut Sharma
• Amy Warren
• Basher Savage

Download this full Movie : Gravity (2013).mp4

Gravity 2013 Official Trailer

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Space X Interplanetary Mission

Interplanetary Transport System - To Mars:

     Elon Musk and his company Space-X have proposed interplanetary space transport system to colonize planet Mars. Space-X have developed Falcon-9 Heavy Launch System, Fuel Tanks and Habitat for astronaut survival. The interplanetary transport will be carried out in three states.

First the Falcon-9 launcher will lift and place the spaceship in the Earth orbit, then the fuel tank will be taken into Earth orbit near spaceship to fuel. After injecting fuel, it will depart towards planet Mars. This mission plan was proposed in 2007 by Elon Musk, the CEO of Space-X.

Space-X aimed to put humans on Mars by 2024. As of October 2017, falcon heavy is able to carry a payload of 150 tonnes of Cargo and astronauts. It also intended to concentrate on the project of producing fuel on Mars by using Methane and Oxygen (Sebatier Propellant Planet), it will be using atmospheric carbon dioxide and Water from Icy surface under the Martian Soils.

Passenger Spaceship:

     The passenger spacecraft is an interplanetary capable ship with carbon fibre primary structure which are propelled by Raptor Engines, It works on the propellant of methane and oxygen. As of September  2017, the current design was named as BFR spaceship and it is powered by Six Raptor Engines.

Mission Plan;

     As envisioned in 2016, the first crewed Mars missions might be expected to have approximately 12 people, with the primary goal to built out and troubleshoot the propellant plant and Mars Base Alpha Power System as well as a rudimentary base. In the event of an emergency, the spaceship would be able to return to Earth without having to wait a full 26 months for the next Synodic period.

Mission Timeline:

• 2018 - Initial Space-X Mars Mission : The Red Dragon, a modified Dragon 2 Spacecraft will be launched by Falcon Heavy Launch Vehicle
• 2020 -  second preparatory mission: at least two Red Dragon to be injected into Mars transfer orbit via Falcon Heavy Vehicles
• 2022 - third uncrewed preparatory mission: To carry equipment and a power plant to Mars
• 2024 -  first crewed ITS flight to Mars according to the optimistic schedule Musk discussed in October 2016 with a dozen of people.

Space-X Interplanetary Video:

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The Martian - Bring Him Home Full Movie

Movie Name - The Martian
Movie Type  - Space Movie | Mars
Rating - 8 / 10
Directed by - Ridley Scott
Written by - Drew Goddard & Andy Weir
Duration - 144 minutes
Released - 2 October 2015
Language - English
Country - United States & United Kingdom
Box Office - $108,000,000
The Martian Casts:

• Matt Damon as Mark Watney
• Jessica Chastain as Melissa Lewis
• Kristen Wiig as Annie Montrose
• Jeff Daniels as Teddy Sanders

Download this full movie : The Martian-Bring Him Home.mp4

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Interstellar

Movie Name - Interstellar

Movie Type - Space Movie

Released - 7th November 2014

Rating - 4 / 5

Directed by - Christopher Nolan

Written by - Jonathan Nolan & Christopher Nolan

Studios - Paramount Pictures & Warner Bros

Interstellar Casts :

• Matthew McConaughey
• Anne Hathaway
• Jessica Chastain
• Casey Affleck
• Ellen Burstyn
• Bill Irwin
• John Lithgow
• Michael Caine
• Timothee Chalamet
• Mackenzie Foy
• Matt Damon

Download This Movie: Download Interstellar Full Movie 720p.mp4 

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Neutron Star Collision

Image Source   : National Aeronautics Space Administration
Image Credit     : NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / CI Lab
Published Date : 17th October 2017
Image Url          : https://goo.gl/oZrpvW
Credit                : Image of the Day | Stars | Universe | NASA | Goddard Space Flight Center

    This illustration shows the hot, dense, expanding cloud of debris stripped from two neutron stars just before collided. Within this neutron-rich debris, large quantities of some of the universe's heaviest elements were forged,including hundreds of Earth masses of gold and platinum.

     This represents the first time scientists detected light tied to a gravitational-wave event, thanks to two merging neutron stars in the galaxy NGC 4993, located about 130 million light years from Earth in the constellation of Hydra.

Text Credit : Tvette Smith / NASA 

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First Light from Gravitational Wave

Mission of NASA captured Light from Gravitational wave event for the First Time;

For the first time in the History, National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) scientists have detected light tied to a gravitational wave event, the event was mainly merging of two neutron stars in the galaxy of NGC 4993. This galaxy is located about 130 million light years away from Earth in the constellation of Hydra.

Light Detection Details:

     On 17th August 2017, after 8:41 a.m EDT. NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope captured a light from a powerful and energetic explosion, which was immediately reported to all the astronomers world wide. The Scientists at the National Science Foundation's Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) detected gravitational waves dubbed  GW170817 from a pair of smashing stars tied to the gamma  ray burst,encouraging astronomers to look for the aftermath of the explosion.

 The detection of X-rays demonstrates that neutron star mergers can form powerful jets streaming out at near light speed, said Goddard Eleonora Troja, who ledone of the Chandra teams and found the X-ray emission. We had to wait for nine days to detect it because we viewed it from the side, unlike anything we had seen before.

On 22nd August 2017, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope began imaging the kilonova and capturing its near-infrared spectrum which revealed the motion and chemical composition of the expanding orbits.

Image Details:

    On 17th August 2017, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory detected gravitational waves from a neutron star collision. Within 12 hours, observatories had identified the source of the event within the galaxy NGC 4993, shown in this Hubble Space Telescope image, and located an associated stellar flare called a kilonova. Image Credit : NASA and ESA

Credits:

Text and Image Credit : NASA Blog

Image and Information credit : LIGO Observatory

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Satellite Launch Vehicle

SLV Overview:

     SLV - Satellite Launch Vehicle or SLV-3 was India's first experimental satellite launch vehicle. It has four stages which are all powered by Solid Propellants weighing 17 tonnes of propellant. It was about 22 meter height and has a capability of placing 40 kilograms class of payloads into Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

History and Success:

     Satellite Launch Vehicle - 3 was successfully launched on 18th July 1980, from SHAR (Sriharikotta Range), when Rohini Satellite, RS - 1 was placed in orbit, thereby making India - the Sixth member of exclusive club of Space-fairing nations. SLV - 3 employed an open loop guidance ( with stored pitch programme ) to steer the vehicle in flight along a pre-determined trajectory. 

Launch History:

     The first experimental flight of SLV - 3 was performed in August 1979, which was only a partially successful. Apart from the launch in July 1980. There were two more launches held in May 1981 and April 1983, orbiting the Rohini Satellite carrying remote sensing sensors.

Success Key for Advanced Launchers:

     The Successful culmination of the SLV-3 project showed the way to advanced launch vehicle projects such as the  

• Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ALSV)
• Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)
• Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).

Tags: SLV | SLV-3 | Indian Launchers | Launchers

SN	Title	Launch Date	Payload	Remarks
1	SLV-3	Apr 17, 1983	Rohini Satellite RS-D2	-------
2	SLV-3D1	May 31, 1981	Rohini Satellite RS-D1	-------
3	SLV-3E2	Jul 18, 1980	Rohini Satellite RS-1	Success
4	SLV-3E1	Aug 10, 1979	Rohini Technology Payload (RTP)	Partial Success

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Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III

GEOSYNCHRONOUS SATELLITE LAUNCH VEHICLE MARK-III

Overview:

      The GSLV Mark-III otherwise called LVM-3, which is a type of launch vehicle manufactured and developed by Indian Space Research Organisation. (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle). It is a type of heavy capability launcher being developed by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Now it allow India to achieve self reliance in launching satellites. It can carry a satellite into geostationary orbit having mass of 4 tonne. LVM3 is a Indian built cryogenic stage vehicle will be used for future Indian crew vehicle for manned missions. GSLV Mark-III features an Indian cryogenic third stage and higher payload capacity than normal GSLV launchers.

Origin: 

     GSLV is an indigenous launching vehicle originated in India. Its development began in early's 2000s, its first launch was performed in 2009-2010. Several factors affected the launch such as failure of upper stage on 15th April 2010.The first flight with a crew on board would take place after 2020.

Boosters:

     The GSLV rocket has mainly two advanced boosters, they are

1. S200 Booster
2. L110 Booster

S200 Booster Static Test:

    The S200 Booster was successfully tested on 24th January 2010 as it burned for 130 seconds which generated a thrust of about 500 tonnes. During this test, nearly 600 ballistic and safety parameters were monitored. And Second successful test was conducted on 4th September 2011 by Indian Space Research Organisation.

L110 Booster Static Test:

     ISRO conducted its first static test of L110 Booster at Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre test facility located at Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu on 5th March 2010. It burned for nearly 150 seconds and terminated after a leakage in the control system. On 8th September 2010 ISRO successfully conducted a full 200 second test.

Rocket Stages:

Stage-1 - SOLID BOOSTER

     The GSLV-MARK-III uses S200 solid motors. Each booster has a diameter of 3.2 metres, a length of 25 metres and carries 207 tonnes of propellant. The boosters burn for 130 seconds and produce a peak thrust of about 5,150 kilonewtons.

Stage-2 - LIQUID MOTOR:

     The core stage designated as L110, which has a diameter of 4 meter, liquid fuel carrying 110 tonnes of UDMH and N2O4. It is the first Indian liquid-engine cluster design, and uses two improved Vikas Rocket Engine, each producing 700 kilonewtons. The improved Vikas engine uses the technique of regenerative cooling, provided improved weight and specific pulse, compared to earlier rockets. The L110 Booster burns for 113 seconds after lift-off and 200 seconds completely.

Stage-3 - Cryogenic Upper Stage:

     The cryogenic upper stage is designated as C25 and it is powered by Indian-Developed CE-20 engine burning LOX and LH2, producing 186 kilonewtons of thrust. The C25 will be 4 meter in diameter and 13.5 meter long and contain 27 tonnes of propellant.

Payload Fairing:

     The payload fairing has a diameter of 5 meters and a payload volume of 110 cubic meters.

Future Improvement:

     There is project proposal to include Indigenous Semi-Cryogenic Engine to LVM-3 in order to boost its payload capacity of 6 tonnes to Geostationary Transfer Orbit.

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Fobos-Grunt

Fobos-Grunt Overview:

     Fobos-Grunt was an Russian Sample Return Mission to Phobos, which is one of the moon of Mars. It also carried the Chinese orbiter called Yinghuo-1 and a small Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment funded and developed by the Planetary Society.

Launch:

      The Spacecraft was arrived at the launch pad "Baikonur" on 17th October 2011. It was launched successfully on 8th November 2011. It was carried by Zenith-2SB41 Rocket developed by Russian Space Agency.

Design and Development:

     The Fobos-Grunt design was began in 1999, when the Russian Space Research Institute and NPO Lavochkin initiated rouble feasibility study into Phobos sample-return mission. It was similar to the 1980s Fobos program. On 26th March 2007, Russia and China signed a cooperative agreement on joint exploration of Mars, which included Fobos-Grunt & Yinghuo-1 weigh 115kg.

Fobos-Grunt Development Partners:

• NPO Lavochkin
• GEOHI RAN Institute - Russian Academy of Sciences
• Vernadski Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical chemistry
• Russian Space Research Institute
• Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• Planetary Society 
• Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
• Finnish Meteorological Institute - Two MetNet Mars Landers 

Objectives:

• Delivery of Soil of Phobos to Earth for research of Mars,Phobos
• To Monitor the atmosphere of Mars and dynamics of dust storms
• To study the vicinity of Mars including radiation belt
• To study the formation of moons and terrestrial planets by the impact of asteroids
• In search of possible evidence for past or present life
• Study the impact of three-year interplanetary round trip journey on extremophile micro-organisms in a small sealed capsule (LIFE Experiment)

Scientific Instruments:

• Television System for Navigation and Guidance
• Gas Chromatograph package | Thermal Differential Analyzer - Gas-Chromatograph - Mass Spectrometer |
• Gamma Ray Spectrometer
• Neutron Spectrometer
• Alpha X Spectrometer
• Seismometer
• Long Wave Radar
• Visual and Near Infrared Spectrometer
• Dust Counter
• Ion Spectrometer
• Optical Solar Sensor

Communication:

     The first communication was received by the European Space Agency's tracking station located in Perth on 22nd November 2011, Australia. After receiving, they sent a command to turn one of its transmitters. The contact was made on 20:25 UTC on 22nd November 2011 as reported by European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt. Then No Telemetry signal was received in this communication.

Repeat Mission:

   In January 2012,Russian Space Research Institute and NPO Lavochkin called scientists and engineers for a repeat sample return mission called Fobos-Grunt-2 and Boomerang, for launch in 2020. Again it was estimated to complete the repeat mission within approx.2024. Some of the instruments designed for the Fobos-Grunt were installed and carried by Exo-Mars Trace Gas Orbiter.

Tags: Yinghuo-1 | Schiaparelli Lander | Mars Climate Orbiter | Mangalyaan | MAVEN | ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter | Viking-2 Orbiter | Kosmos 419 Orbiter | Mars Missions | Orbiters

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Progress 68 Cargo Spacecraft Launch

     Today the Russian Progress 68 cargo craft was launched from Russian Launch pad Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhastan. It carried almost Three tons of food, fuel and other supplies required for the International Space Station crew members. The automated Russian Progress-68 cargo spacecraft was lifted-off from launch pad at 4:46 a.m from Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Within 10 minutes after the launch, it reached its orbit and deployed its solar panels and antennas. And it was fully monitored by Expedition 53 Crew Members for approach and docking.

It will arrive the Pirs docking Compartment of the International Space Station for docking on 16th October 2017 | Monday at 7:09 a.m

Follow NASA TV Coverage and Websites for Live Telecasts

Further Links:

• National Aeronautics Space Administration - Website
• International Space Station - NASA

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Tarantula Nebulae - Bubbles

Tarantula Nebula

     At a distance of 160,000 light years, the large Magellanic cloud is one of the Milky Way's closest companions. It is also home to one of the largest and most intense regions of active star formation known to exist anywhere in our galactic neighbourhood - the Tarantula Nebulae. This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows both the spindly, spidery filaments of gas that inspired the region's name, and the intriguing structure of stacked bubbles that forms the so called HoneyComb Nebula

The Honey comb Nebula was found serendipitously by astronomers using ESO's New Technology Telescope to image the nearby SN1987A, the closest observed supernova to Earth for more than 400 years. The Nebulae's strange bubble-like shape has baffled astronomers since its discovery in the early 1990. Various theories have been proposed to explain its unique structure, some more exotic than others.

In 2010, a group of astronomers studies the nebula and using advanced data analysis and computer modelling, came to the conclusion that its unique appearance is likely due to the combined effect of two supernovae - a more recent explosion has pierced the expanding shell of the material created by an older explosion. The nebula's especially striking appearance is suspected to be due to a fortuitous viewing angle; the honey comb effect of the circular shells may not be visible from another viewpoint.

Credit         : ESA/ Hubble Space Telescope : Judy Schmit

Text Credit : European Space Agency & NASA Blog

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Send Your Name to Mars

     NASA have a very good interaction with public since its development. It interacts with peoples, students and kids through various aspects. It provide various platform and opportunities to students to perform their best contributions.

     Previously before the launch of NASA's Amazing Curiosity Rover to Mars. It had a open platform to register their names and send it to Mars. Millions of people from various regions registered their names through online platform. All the names were programmed in a small chip and mounted on the curiosity rover. After the successful landing, Curiosity Rover wrote all the programmed names on the surface of the rock.

    Now, we got another opportunity to send our names to Mars, NASA is going to launch its next Insight Lander to Mars, the same programme of name registering was open now online. Visit the website Enter your First Name ; Last Name ; Country ; Postal Code and mail address, then get your boarding pass...

To register and send your name to Mars Click :  https://mars.nasa.gov/syn/insight

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NROL-52 Spy Satellite Launch

      The United States is launching a new spy satellite on a secret mission on October 6. The rocket Atlas-V will carry NROL-52 satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 4:03 A.M. It was scheduled to launch on 5 October in Thursday, but the launch was delayed. The spacecraft will be launched under United Launch Alliance.

The Satellite will be operated by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) which manages the country's fleet of spy satellites. 

See Live Launch Video of NROL-52 :

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Mangalyaan - Second Year Data

Mangalyaan Second Year Data from 24th September 2015 to 23rd September 2016

     Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), the maiden interplanetary mission of Indian Space Research Organisation, launched on 5th November 2013 by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C25 got inserted into Martian Orbit on 24 September 2014 in its first attempt. MOM completed 1000 Earth days in its orbit on 19 June 2017, well beyond its designed mission life of six months. 1000 Earth days corresponds to 973.24 Mars Sols (Martian Solar Days) and MOM completed 388 orbits.

     MOM is credited with many laurels like cost-effectiveness, short period of realisation, economical mass-budget, miniaturization of five heterogeneous science payloads etc.. Satellite is in good health and continues to work as expected. Scientific analysis of the data received from Mars Orbiter Spacecraft is in progress.

     ISRO has also launched MOM Announcement of Opprtunity (AO) programmes for researchers in the country to use MOM data for R&D. The success of Mars Orbiter Mission has motivated India's student and research community in a big way. Thirty-two proposals were supported under this AO. A Planetary analysis workshop was also conducted to strengthen the MOM-AO scientist's research interest.

First year data from MOM was released to public on 24 September 2016 through ISSDC website. There are 1494 registered users and 17278 downloads done so far.

     The Mars Colour Camera, one of the scientific payloads onboard MOM, has produced more than 715 images so far. Mars Atlas was prepared and made available on ISRO Website.

     MOM went through a communication 'blackout' as a result of solar conjuction from 2nd June 2015 to 2nd July 2015. Telemetry data was received during most of the conjuction period except for 9 days from 10 June to 18 June 2015, during superior conjuction.MOM was commanded with autonomy features starting from 18th May 2015, which enabled it to survive the communication 'blackout' period without any ground commands or intervention. The spacecraft emerged out of blackout period with auto control of the spacecraft subsystems successfully. This experience had enabled the mission team to program a spacecraft about one month in advance for all operations.

     MOM spacecraft experienced the 'whiteout' geometry during 18-30th May 2016. A whiteout occurs when the earth is between the Sun and Mars and too much solar radiation may make it impossible to communicate with the Earth. The maximum duration of whiteout is around 14 days. MOM spacecraft experienced the whiteout during May 2016. However, MOM is built with full autonomy to take care of itself for long periods without any ground intervation. The entire planning and commanding for the whiteout was completed 10 days before the actual event. No commanding was carried out on the satellite in the whiteout period. Payload operations were suspended. Fault Detection, Isolation and Recovery were kept enabled, so as to take care of any contigency on the spacecraft. Master Recovery Sequencer was programmed, to acquire the attitude of the spacecraft and ensure communication with earth even in case of loss of attitude. The Spacecraft came out of whiteout geometry successfully on 30 May 2016 and has been normalized for regular operations.

     An orbital manoeuvre was performed on MOM spacecraft to avoid the ompending long eclipse duration for the satellite. The duration of the eclipse would have been as long as 8 hours. As the satellite battery is designed to handle eclipse duration of only about 1 Hour 40 minutes, a longer eclipse would have drained the battery beyond the safe limit. The manoeuvres performed on 17 January, all the eight numbers of 22N thrusters were fired for a duration of 431 seconds, achieving a velocity difference of 97.5 m/s. This has resulted in a new orbit for the MOM spacecraft, which completely avoided eclipse up to September 2017. About 20kg propellant was consumed for this manoeuvres leaving another 13kg of propellant for its further mission life.

• MOM Data workshop was held is SAC, Ahmedabad for AO participants during March 2017.
• Many Science papers based on MOM instrument data has been published in various international journals.

Links for Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) |  Mangalyaan Data:

• Login and Download Mangalyaan Second Year Data on ISSDC Website
• Download Mars Atlas prepared from Mars Colour Camera
• ISRO Science Sheet on Second Year Data "Mars Orbiter Mission"

Credits: Text and Image Credit : Indian Space Research Organisation

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Astrosat Picture India

Image : AstroSat Picture - Forming stars efficiently in grand isolation

Image Information:

     This star cluster is located in the constellation of Cetus which is about 3 million light years away, is a faint dwarf galaxy, Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte, or WLM for short. It is relatively isolated, lying in the outskirts of our Local Group of galaxies. It has a mass that is thousand of times less than the Milky Way and a metallicity that is only 13% solar.lower metallicity implies lessheavier elements,which in turn hinders forming new stars.So why did AstroSat even look at this galaxy?WLM is a dwarf irregular galaxy with a low mass and metallicity and exists in solitude.nevertheless, it manages to form new stars extremely efficiently. Adjusted for their respective masses, WLM forms stars at a rate that is 12 times higher than our Milky way. Astronomers are still not sure as to how WLM does this.

     Annapurni Subramaniam and her student Chayan Mondal at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bengaluru wanted to understand how this diminutive galaxy is such an efficient star factory. They decided to use the Ultra Violet Imaging Telescope on board the Astrosat to image the younger star clusters in WLM. In this image, the blue dots are the star clusters imaged in Far Ultra-Violet (130-180nm) and the yellow dots are those imaged in Near Ultra-Violet (180-300nm). They are currently analysing this data and will soon be able to fit one more piece into the puzzle that is WLM.

About AstroSat: 

     AstroSat, India's first dedicated multi-wavelength space observatory, was launched by ISRO on 28 September 2015. It has five instruments on board - the Ultra Violet Imaging Telescope, the Soft X-ray Telescope, the Large Area X-ray Proportional Counter, the Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride Imager and the Scanning Sky Monitor.

Follow AstroSat :

• Webpage    -    http://astron-soc.in/outreach/apom/ 
• Facebook   -    http://facebook.com/asipoec 
• Twitter         -    https://twitter.com/asipoec
• Instagram   -    https://www.instagram.com/publicastronomy  

Credits: Text & Image Credit : Astronomical Society of India | Indian Space Research Organisation 

For More Information - visit : https://www.isro.gov.in

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Papers on Mars Missions

Planet Mars:-

• Some Fact Papers on Mars:

• Weather on Poles of Mars
• Compositional Interference of Phobos
• Evidence for Carbon dioxide on Mars
• Formation of Martian Clouds by Heldmann
• Mars Curiosity Landing
• Mars Fact Sheet - Comparison of Earth and Mars
• Mars by Sir.Nikola Tesla
• References by Pioneer Spacecraft
• References on Mars - Wikipedia
• Mars Science Laboratory Team Key Papers
• Mars Spacecraft Discoveries
• Methane on Mars - 2008
• Planetary Diameters of Mars by Surya Sidhanta Thompson
• Proof of Water on Red Soil of Mars
• Red Planet Script Movie
• Skylight of Mars
• Viking Resources of Mars - Mars Spacecraft
• Minerals on Mars

• Proposed Papers on Mars:

• Phootprint on Sample Return Mission - European Space Agency
• Mars Biological Oxidant and Life Detection
• India Mission to Mars
• Contamination Issues on Human Mars Missions
• Future Metnet Lander Missions for Mars
• Economic Analysis of Mars Exploration and Colonization
• Cameras for Mars Sample Return Mission
• Concept of Astrobiology on Mars by NASA

• Conferences: 

• Conference on Mars Astrobiology 2010
• Fourth Mars Polar Science Conference
• Mars Lunar Planetary conference on Phobos
• Mars Polar Science Conference of 2000
• Conference on Methane on Mars 

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Mars Fact Sheet

Mass of Mars                                      : 0.64174x10^24 kg

Volume                                                 : 16.318x10^10 km^3

Equatorial Radius                               : 3396.2 km

Polar Radius                                        : 3376.2 km

Volumetric Mean Radius                    : 3389.5 km

Core Radius                                         : 1700.0 km

Ellipticity                                               : 0.00589 Flattening

Mean Density                                       : 3933 kg/m^3

Surface Gravity                                    : 3.71 m/s

Surface acceleration                           : 3.69 m/s^2

Escape Velocity                                    : 5.03 km/s

GM                                                         : 0.04283x10^6 km^3/s^2

Bond albedo                                         : 0.250

Solar Irradiance                                    : 589.2 W/m^2

Black Body Temperature                     : 210.1 K

Topographic range                               : 30 km

Moment of Inertia                                 : 0.366 I/MR^2

J2                                                            : 1960.45x10^-6

No.of Natural Satellites                       : 02 ( Phobos & Deimos)

Semimajor axis                                     : 227.92x10^6 km

Orbital Period                                       : 686.980 Days

Perihelion                                             : 206.62x10^6 km

Aphelion                                                : 249.23x10^6 km

Orbital Velocity                                     : 24.07 km/s

Orbit inclination                                   : 1.850 degree

Orbit eccentricity                                 : 0.0935

Length of the Day                                : 24.6597 Hours

Distance from Earth                            : 401.3x10^6 km

Surface Density                                   : 0.020 kg/m^3

Scale height of atmosphere              : 11.1 km

Total mass of atmosphere                  : 2.5x10^16 kg

Average Temperature                         : 210k

Wind Speeds                                        : 2-7 m/s (summer), 5-10 m/s (fall), 17-30 m/s (Dust storms)

Mean Molecular Weight                     : 43.34 g/mole

Information Credit : NASA

• Download NASA Mars Fact Sheet.pdf

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