Nine years after its wildly successful Mars Orbiter Mission (aka Mangalyaan-1), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to send another spacecraft to the red planet Mars.
The Mars Orbiter Mission
The Mars Orbiter Mission-2 or Mangalyaan-2 will reportedly carry four payloads. As per documents assessed by some news outlets, these payloads will carry and contain scientific instruments that will enable studying aspects of the barren planet, including interplanetary dust, the Martian atmosphere, and the environment.
As per the mission document, the payload will include a Mars Orbiter Dust Experiment (MODEX), a Radio Occultation (RO) experiment, an Energetic Ion Spectrometer (EIS), a Langmuir Probe and an Electric Field Experiment (EFE). Speaking on the condition of anonymity, an ISRO Official told a news agency that all of these payloads are in different stages of development.
Functions of Individual Payloads
Of the Payloads, the MODEX will help and understand the origin, abundance, distribution, and flux at high altitudes on Mars. “There are no measurements of Interplanetary Dust Particles on Mars, and the instrument can detect particles from the size of a few hundred nanometers to micrometres, travelling at the speed or hypervelocity of more than one km per second.
The outcomes can help explain the dust flux on the planet (Mars), whether there is any ring as hypothesized around Mars, and also confirm whether the interplanetary dust is coming from Phobos or Deimos, the two moons of Mars. The Study of the dust can explain the RO results,” said the mission document.
The Radio Occultation Instrument will measure neutron and electron density profiles and will help understand the behaviour of the planet’s atmosphere. The Energetic Ion Spectrometer will help the space agency in the analysis of solar energy and supra-thermal solar wind particles in the Martian Environment. This particular instrument will also aid in our understanding of the loss of atmosphere of the red planet.
Finally, the Langmuir Probe and the Electric Field Experiment will enable the measurement of the electron number density, electron temperature and electric field waves, which will give a better picture of the plasma environment on Mars.
Mangalyaan-1 Mission
The previous Mangalyaan mission was India’s first planetary mission, which enabled India, the fourth country in the world, to achieve Martian orbit, after Russia’s ROSCOSMOS, the USA (NASA) and the European Space Agency.
The main objectives of Mangalyaan-1 included the design, realisation and launch of a Mars orbiter spacecraft capable of operating with sufficient autonomy during the journey phase. Mars Orbit Insertion and capture and in orbit phase around Mars. Mangalyaan-1 carried five scientific payloads to study Martian Surface features, morphology, mineralogy, and the Martian atmosphere
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