I decided to go to Sriharikota the moment I learnt ISRO was planning to launch Mangalyaan, an orbiter mission to Mars, on November 5 at 14:38 IST. Only three space agencies (NASA, European Space Agency and Russian Federal Space Agency) have successfully sent orbiters to Mars (NASA has sent four rovers too). China and Japan tried a Mars mission but they failed. Even the formerly mentioned big three agencies have had many failed attempts. Out of 51 Mars missions attempted by mankind, only 21 have come successful. Now ISRO has set its sight on Mars. Highly ambitious indeed!
Three days prior to launch, I mailed one of the Directors of ISRO to enquire if there are any arrangements made for the public to attend the launch. There was no reply. I waited for a day. Still no reply. Now it was just a day prior to launch. I called up ISRO office directly and enquired if public can attend the launch. A nice sounding lady told she could not comment on this and she directed me to ISRO's Public Relations Officer. He picked the call and for the third time on enquiring about attending the launch, he said there are no provisions for the public to come and watch as there was no "mandate" (unless you are a journalist). I realized there is no use in pushing him, I thanked him for his time and ended the call.
I then availed the help of Google Earth. I found a small island named Venadu adjacent to the launch site.
This island is surrounded by Pulicat lake, the backwater of Bay of Bengal. Fortunately there is a small mud road (about 20 feet wide) that connects this island and the main road that connects Sriharikota island with the main land. I decided this is it. Me and my father started from home in Chennai at about 10:30 AM and reached via Guntur highway to Sriharikota. I decided to start early just in case there are any hiccups (as the satellite image you're seeing above was taken two years ago).
Google maps was spot on, the travel took only two hours. As we neared SHK (Sriharikota), we could see lots of police personnel patrolling the area. We took the right taking the road to the island, which said Sriharikota is 17 kilometers ahead. The lake on both sides of the road was a splendid sight. We then bumped into a checkpost where the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) personnel halted us, prohibiting further access. They asked us to divert right. Which right? The exact right which I had intended to take! The road existed, after all. Sigh of relief!
But its existence should not be confused with its condition. Driving in that road was like riding a jogging camel. Neither was it a cement road or tar; it was a mud road. We drove for about 3 kilometers, decided enough was enough and parked the car. We could see SHK on the left. Let me show where I then was.
Yes. It was more than thirteen kilometers (I urge you to think of a location 13 km from your house to appreciate the magnitude). Launchpad was NOT VISIBLE from where I was. It is good in a way, the debris from the rocket is bound to spread more than 3 kilometers. The time now was 1:20 PM. We decided to have the meal we brought from home (there is no hotel nearby, it's wise to bring your own food if you're planning to make it to a launch). We finished the meal by 1:45 PM.
(52 minutes later...)
I watched the digital clock in my mobile. I then hurriedly swept my eyes all over SHK. I watched mobile again. Swept SHK again. Within sixty seconds, a thing is going to go up the sky. Minus fifty seconds. I took the binocular and grazed the whole of horizon to see if any smoke is flaring up. Minus thirty seconds. Where is it? Where is it? Minus twenty seconds. Minus nineteen seconds. Minus eigh- THERE!!! There it is!!! It got launched already, damn my phone's clock. Up in the air, nice and steady, she soared majestically into the sky leaving dark red-yellowish flaming tail which was larger than the vehicle herself. I watched it in awe, my mouth wide open. The sight was also serene because all this happened in total silence, with just slight pleasant sounds of water jostling its shores. The sight was a mixture of brutal force and pristine gentleness. But after a few seconds, the sound that left the rocket during the launch reached us. It was a trembling sound. A sound that makes you feel your bones. A sound that makes you close your eyes alongside ears. Never have I heard such a shaking, ear-stuffing sound. I touched the bonnet of my car, the sound made the car look like it was running. The sound started with small intensity, grew exponentially to become highly intense and started to fade away. By this time, the rocket and its flaming tail was well high in the sky, leaving its trail of smoke to grow fat and start vanishing. We could see the PS1 separation directly. After that, the rocket became a speck in the sky.
To give you an idea of how the launch sounded, watch this video. This is exactly how it sounded. (in speakers the effect is not as profound as the real experience though)
What happened in this half hour window after the rocket disappeared as a speck in the sky? Let me explicate.
Soon after the rocket got launched, it accelerated with a thrust of about 2.18 times it's weight (only if the thrust is higher than its weight can the rocket soar up). Standing tall at 44.5 metres, the lift-off weight of launch vehicle was 312 tonnes. Soon after the countdown hit 0, a stage called PS1 is activated. The vehicle had six strap-on boosters (those small 'mini-rockets' that are fitted on the leg of the big rocket). At T+0.5, first and second booster fires. About 0.2 seconds later, the third and fourth booster fires! Now the thrust is about 700 tonnes. The ascent is very fast, it aligns itself towards south-east and rapidly progresses to the Indian Ocean. What about the remaining two boosters (i.e., 5th & 6th)? They are ignited at T+25 when the rocket is already 2.5 kilometers high. Now each of these fifth and sixth booster burns for about 49.5 seconds together giving extra thrust. The first four boosters get kicked off from the rocket at T+1:10 seconds and fall into the Indian Ocean.
Twenty two seconds later, the 5th and 6th booster also similarly gets detached from the rocket and falls into the ocean. Now the rocket still ascents out of inertia as the bottom-most segment of the rocket gets separated and falls into the ocean (this happens between T+1:32 to T+1:52).
At T+1:53, the second ignition starts (now the rocket is about 58 kilometers in the sky); this stage is called PS2. In this stage, the rocket escapes the dense atmosphere and it jettisons (releases) the payload fairing at T+3:22 at a height of about 113 kilometers. Payload fairing is the nose cone of the rocket, which provides aerodynamic stability to the rocket. You jettison it because the rocket is out of the atmosphere and you don't need the nose cone anymore as there is no air for aerodynamics in the first place. No nose cone --> lesser the weight of rocket --> lesser the fuel needed.
The PS2 stage lasts for about two minutes and 35 seconds before separating from the third stage (or third segment from the bottom) which then ignites and assumes control of the rocket at T+4:26.
The third stage is solid-fueled and it burns for straight 112 seconds to boost the rocket to what is called a sub-orbital trajectory. After burnout of the PS3 stage, just like the previous segments, this too separates (at T+9:43) and the rocket (which is now less than 25% of its original size) continues to coast uphill. This coast between the 3rd and 4th stage burns is extended to 25 minutes. During this period, the spacecraft will be in radio-blackout. It cannot contact any station as it crosses the might pacific ocean. After 1600 seconds, its signal will be received by the ship SCI Nalanda which is stationed at South Pacific ocean., off Fiji Islands. And so is SCI Yamuna. These ships will let the ISRO station know if PS3 has been successful and if the PS4 has ignited through signals transmitted by the vehicle.
PS4 ignition:
After receiving confirmation from the two ships of PS4 ignition and the health of satellite, ISRO will then know the satellite will soon leave the rocket to get into the Earth's orbit safely - that is, the PS4 separation. After this, the satellite is safely placed into an orbit around the earth. The first orbit has a perigee of 246.9 and an apogee of 23,566.69 km around Earth.
The ascent profile of Mangalyaan mission:
Approximate trajectory of the rocket:
All the things which you have read till now, PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4, everything has been successful in today's launch. Everything has went according to plan. The agency has called it a "textbook" launch. :-)
As said earlier, the satellite is currently not on its way to Mars. It is still orbiting the Earth and it will do so till November Thirtieth.
Till November 30th, the satellite will remain in what is called the Earth Parking Orbit. Then one fine day, when the satellite reaches perigee, a small thruster called Apogee Kick Motor (which is on board the satellite) is fired. As the name suggests, this firing increases the satellite's apogee. The magic here is that the satellite comes back to the same perigee. Now when it reaches the perigee, the AKM is fired again, increasing the apogee again. This is done three more times. And the sixth time the satellite returns to perigee, having now an orbit of 600 x 2,15,000 km, a big thrust will kick the satellite out of mother Earth's gravitational pull and viola! It starts its voyage to Mars (in the Mars Transfer Trajectory). How long does it cruise? It cruises for a straight 300 days (with slight trajectory corrections here and there). If all goes well according to plan, the Indian Mars Orbiter will reach Mars on 24th September, 2014.
ISRO has pulled all this off within a record 15 months of planning and a stringy 423 crore ($69M) budget. Besides the launch vehicle, the planning and budget includes:
Borrowing an hilarious meme from Shrey Tulsian: (not to be taken too seriously though)
Being an Indian myself, this mission's launch has indeed been an humbling moment for me. We are a nation of 1.2 billion, representing about one sixth of the world. We are not yet a developed nation. We have the highest middle class population in the world. Every day an aspiration is born and a thousand get decimated. But on a global level, our endeavours in Space has made us all extremely proud and something to look forward to.
From THIS:
To THIS:
When the father of Indian Space Program Dr Vikram Sarabhai planted the seed for ISRO, he quoted, "There are some who question the relevance of space activities in a developing nation. To us, there is no ambiguity of purpose. We do not have the fantasy of competing with the economically advanced nations in the exploration of the moon or the planets or manned space-flight."
But then, we have explored the moon through Chandrayaan. And today we have set afoot in exploring a planet.
May you inspire generations to push the boundaries of space tomorrow than you have done today, dear ISRO... I know you will. It is pretty cool after all, isn't it? Hats-off to you!!!
Three days prior to launch, I mailed one of the Directors of ISRO to enquire if there are any arrangements made for the public to attend the launch. There was no reply. I waited for a day. Still no reply. Now it was just a day prior to launch. I called up ISRO office directly and enquired if public can attend the launch. A nice sounding lady told she could not comment on this and she directed me to ISRO's Public Relations Officer. He picked the call and for the third time on enquiring about attending the launch, he said there are no provisions for the public to come and watch as there was no "mandate" (unless you are a journalist). I realized there is no use in pushing him, I thanked him for his time and ended the call.
I then availed the help of Google Earth. I found a small island named Venadu adjacent to the launch site.
This island is surrounded by Pulicat lake, the backwater of Bay of Bengal. Fortunately there is a small mud road (about 20 feet wide) that connects this island and the main road that connects Sriharikota island with the main land. I decided this is it. Me and my father started from home in Chennai at about 10:30 AM and reached via Guntur highway to Sriharikota. I decided to start early just in case there are any hiccups (as the satellite image you're seeing above was taken two years ago).
Google maps was spot on, the travel took only two hours. As we neared SHK (Sriharikota), we could see lots of police personnel patrolling the area. We took the right taking the road to the island, which said Sriharikota is 17 kilometers ahead. The lake on both sides of the road was a splendid sight. We then bumped into a checkpost where the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) personnel halted us, prohibiting further access. They asked us to divert right. Which right? The exact right which I had intended to take! The road existed, after all. Sigh of relief!
But its existence should not be confused with its condition. Driving in that road was like riding a jogging camel. Neither was it a cement road or tar; it was a mud road. We drove for about 3 kilometers, decided enough was enough and parked the car. We could see SHK on the left. Let me show where I then was.
Yes. It was more than thirteen kilometers (I urge you to think of a location 13 km from your house to appreciate the magnitude). Launchpad was NOT VISIBLE from where I was. It is good in a way, the debris from the rocket is bound to spread more than 3 kilometers. The time now was 1:20 PM. We decided to have the meal we brought from home (there is no hotel nearby, it's wise to bring your own food if you're planning to make it to a launch). We finished the meal by 1:45 PM.
(52 minutes later...)
I watched the digital clock in my mobile. I then hurriedly swept my eyes all over SHK. I watched mobile again. Swept SHK again. Within sixty seconds, a thing is going to go up the sky. Minus fifty seconds. I took the binocular and grazed the whole of horizon to see if any smoke is flaring up. Minus thirty seconds. Where is it? Where is it? Minus twenty seconds. Minus nineteen seconds. Minus eigh- THERE!!! There it is!!! It got launched already, damn my phone's clock. Up in the air, nice and steady, she soared majestically into the sky leaving dark red-yellowish flaming tail which was larger than the vehicle herself. I watched it in awe, my mouth wide open. The sight was also serene because all this happened in total silence, with just slight pleasant sounds of water jostling its shores. The sight was a mixture of brutal force and pristine gentleness. But after a few seconds, the sound that left the rocket during the launch reached us. It was a trembling sound. A sound that makes you feel your bones. A sound that makes you close your eyes alongside ears. Never have I heard such a shaking, ear-stuffing sound. I touched the bonnet of my car, the sound made the car look like it was running. The sound started with small intensity, grew exponentially to become highly intense and started to fade away. By this time, the rocket and its flaming tail was well high in the sky, leaving its trail of smoke to grow fat and start vanishing. We could see the PS1 separation directly. After that, the rocket became a speck in the sky.
To give you an idea of how the launch sounded, watch this video. This is exactly how it sounded. (in speakers the effect is not as profound as the real experience though)
I immediately phoned up a relative who was watching the launch live on TV, he said all was well. I was there till he confirmed the whole mission was in good health; till the orbiter was injected into Earth's orbit, which was about half an hour from the launch.
What happened in this half hour window after the rocket disappeared as a speck in the sky? Let me explicate.
Soon after the rocket got launched, it accelerated with a thrust of about 2.18 times it's weight (only if the thrust is higher than its weight can the rocket soar up). Standing tall at 44.5 metres, the lift-off weight of launch vehicle was 312 tonnes. Soon after the countdown hit 0, a stage called PS1 is activated. The vehicle had six strap-on boosters (those small 'mini-rockets' that are fitted on the leg of the big rocket). At T+0.5, first and second booster fires. About 0.2 seconds later, the third and fourth booster fires! Now the thrust is about 700 tonnes. The ascent is very fast, it aligns itself towards south-east and rapidly progresses to the Indian Ocean. What about the remaining two boosters (i.e., 5th & 6th)? They are ignited at T+25 when the rocket is already 2.5 kilometers high. Now each of these fifth and sixth booster burns for about 49.5 seconds together giving extra thrust. The first four boosters get kicked off from the rocket at T+1:10 seconds and fall into the Indian Ocean.
Twenty two seconds later, the 5th and 6th booster also similarly gets detached from the rocket and falls into the ocean. Now the rocket still ascents out of inertia as the bottom-most segment of the rocket gets separated and falls into the ocean (this happens between T+1:32 to T+1:52).
At T+1:53, the second ignition starts (now the rocket is about 58 kilometers in the sky); this stage is called PS2. In this stage, the rocket escapes the dense atmosphere and it jettisons (releases) the payload fairing at T+3:22 at a height of about 113 kilometers. Payload fairing is the nose cone of the rocket, which provides aerodynamic stability to the rocket. You jettison it because the rocket is out of the atmosphere and you don't need the nose cone anymore as there is no air for aerodynamics in the first place. No nose cone --> lesser the weight of rocket --> lesser the fuel needed.
The PS2 stage lasts for about two minutes and 35 seconds before separating from the third stage (or third segment from the bottom) which then ignites and assumes control of the rocket at T+4:26.
The third stage is solid-fueled and it burns for straight 112 seconds to boost the rocket to what is called a sub-orbital trajectory. After burnout of the PS3 stage, just like the previous segments, this too separates (at T+9:43) and the rocket (which is now less than 25% of its original size) continues to coast uphill. This coast between the 3rd and 4th stage burns is extended to 25 minutes. During this period, the spacecraft will be in radio-blackout. It cannot contact any station as it crosses the might pacific ocean. After 1600 seconds, its signal will be received by the ship SCI Nalanda which is stationed at South Pacific ocean., off Fiji Islands. And so is SCI Yamuna. These ships will let the ISRO station know if PS3 has been successful and if the PS4 has ignited through signals transmitted by the vehicle.
PS4 ignition:
After receiving confirmation from the two ships of PS4 ignition and the health of satellite, ISRO will then know the satellite will soon leave the rocket to get into the Earth's orbit safely - that is, the PS4 separation. After this, the satellite is safely placed into an orbit around the earth. The first orbit has a perigee of 246.9 and an apogee of 23,566.69 km around Earth.
The ascent profile of Mangalyaan mission:
Approximate trajectory of the rocket:
All the things which you have read till now, PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4, everything has been successful in today's launch. Everything has went according to plan. The agency has called it a "textbook" launch. :-)
As said earlier, the satellite is currently not on its way to Mars. It is still orbiting the Earth and it will do so till November Thirtieth.
Till November 30th, the satellite will remain in what is called the Earth Parking Orbit. Then one fine day, when the satellite reaches perigee, a small thruster called Apogee Kick Motor (which is on board the satellite) is fired. As the name suggests, this firing increases the satellite's apogee. The magic here is that the satellite comes back to the same perigee. Now when it reaches the perigee, the AKM is fired again, increasing the apogee again. This is done three more times. And the sixth time the satellite returns to perigee, having now an orbit of 600 x 2,15,000 km, a big thrust will kick the satellite out of mother Earth's gravitational pull and viola! It starts its voyage to Mars (in the Mars Transfer Trajectory). How long does it cruise? It cruises for a straight 300 days (with slight trajectory corrections here and there). If all goes well according to plan, the Indian Mars Orbiter will reach Mars on 24th September, 2014.
ISRO has pulled all this off within a record 15 months of planning and a stringy 423 crore ($69M) budget. Besides the launch vehicle, the planning and budget includes:
- Lyman Alpha Photometer - To measure and detect Deuterium content in Mars atmosphere and to find deuterium to hydrogen ratio.
- Mars Colour Camera - To get detailed data of Martian surface and its compositions and also to monitor dynamic events and weather of Mars.
- Methane Sensor - To monitor the presence of Methane (CH4) to the accuracy of parts per billion (PPB). Methane composition varies spatially and temporally in Mars.
- Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyzer - This analyzes neutral composition up to 1 to 300 amu.
- Thermal IR Imaging Spectrometer - This operates day in and day out to detect the minerals and soil types in Mars.
Borrowing an hilarious meme from Shrey Tulsian: (not to be taken too seriously though)
Being an Indian myself, this mission's launch has indeed been an humbling moment for me. We are a nation of 1.2 billion, representing about one sixth of the world. We are not yet a developed nation. We have the highest middle class population in the world. Every day an aspiration is born and a thousand get decimated. But on a global level, our endeavours in Space has made us all extremely proud and something to look forward to.
From THIS:
To THIS:
When the father of Indian Space Program Dr Vikram Sarabhai planted the seed for ISRO, he quoted, "There are some who question the relevance of space activities in a developing nation. To us, there is no ambiguity of purpose. We do not have the fantasy of competing with the economically advanced nations in the exploration of the moon or the planets or manned space-flight."
But then, we have explored the moon through Chandrayaan. And today we have set afoot in exploring a planet.
May you inspire generations to push the boundaries of space tomorrow than you have done today, dear ISRO... I know you will. It is pretty cool after all, isn't it? Hats-off to you!!!
