Nilanjan
India is getting ready for another Mars mission, called Mangalyaan-2. This mission will have four tools to study Mars, like dust and its atmosphere.
These tools are one to study Mars dust, another to learn about the atmosphere, one for energetic particles, and one to measure electric fields.
An ISRO official, who didn’t want to be named, said, ‘All these tools are in various stages of development.’
India Prepares for New Mars Mission with Mangalyaan-2
India is getting ready to send another spaceship to Mars, say officials from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). This comes nine years after India made history by successfully putting a spacecraft into orbit around the red planet on its very first try.
The Mars Orbiter Mission-2, also known as Mangalyaan-2, will carry four special tools. These scientific instruments will study different things on Mars, like space dust and the planet’s air and surroundings.
Nine years ago, on September 24, India made history by reaching Mars’ orbit on its first try. No other space agency had done this before.
The next mission will have four special tools, including one for studying Mars dust, another for understanding its atmosphere, a tool for energetic particles, and one for measuring electric fields. This is all mentioned in the mission document.
What Each Payload Does on the Mars Mission
One of the payloads, MODEX, will help us learn about the tiny particles in the Martian atmosphere. It can detect small particles moving very fast. This can tell us about how much dust is in Mars’ atmosphere, whether there’s a ring around Mars, and where the dust comes from, be it interplanetary or from the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos. Studying dust can also help us with another experiment.
The Radio Occultation instrument will measure the air and electron density in Mars’ atmosphere. This helps us understand how the atmosphere behaves.
What the Other Payloads Do on the Mars Mission
The Energetic Ion Spectrometer (EIS) will help the space agency understand the sun’s energy and fast solar wind particles near Mars. It will also help us learn about how Mars lost its atmosphere long ago.
Lastly, the Langmuir Probe and Electric Field Experiment (LPEX) will measure things like the number of electrons and their temperature in Mars’ atmosphere. It will also study electric field waves, giving us more information about the plasma environment on Mars.
India’s previous Mangalyaan mission was a big success. It made India the fourth country to put a spacecraft in orbit around Mars, after Russia, the US, and the European Space Agency.
India’s Mars Mission Achievements
India’s space agency is working on tools like EIS to understand solar particles near Mars. This helps study why Mars lost its atmosphere. The tool measures high-energy particles.
LPEX LPEX measures things like the number of electrons and their temperature. This helps us understand the plasma around Mars. LPEX has a probe and sensors on a long boom.
India’s first Mars mission launched on November 5, 2013, using the PSLV-C25 rocket. It became the fourth country to put a spacecraft around Mars, doing it on the first try. The mission was supposed to last six months but completed seven years in 2021.
The first mission aimed to showcase technology and study Mars’ surface and atmosphere.
