India once again sets sights on Mars, readies to launch Mangalyaan-2

Nine years after its wildly successful Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), aka Mangalyaan, India is preparing to send another spacecraft to the red planet.

This was reported by Hindustan Times (HT) citing officials from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

MOM-2

Add WION as a Preferred Source

The Mars Orbiter Mission-2 or MOM-2 would reportedly carry four payloads. As per documents assessed by the news outlet, these payloads would contain scientific instruments that will study aspects of the barren planet, including interplanetary dust, the Martian atmosphere and the environment.

According to the mission document, payloads will include: a Mars Orbit Dust Experiment (MODEX), a Radio Occultation (RO) experiment, an Energetic Ion Spectrometer (EIS) and a Langmuir Probe and Electric Field Experiment (LPEX).

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an ISRO official told HT that "all of these payloads are in different stages of development."

Functions of individual payloads

Of the payloads, MODEX will help understand the origin, abundance, distribution, and flux at high altitudes on Mars.

"There are no measurements of Interplanetary Dust Particles (IDPs) at Mars. The instrument can detect particles of size from a few hundred nm to few µm, travelling at hypervelocity (> 1 km/s). The outcomes can help explain the dust flux at Mars, whether there is any ring (as hypothesized) around Mars and also confirm whether the dust is interplanetary or coming from Phobos or Deimos (the two moons of Mars). The study of dust can help explain the RO experiment results," said the mission document.

Radio Occultation instrument will measure neutral and electron density profiles, reports HT. It will help understand the behaviour of the planet's atmosphere.

Energetic Ion Spectrometer (EIS) will help the space agency characterise solar energy and supra-thermal solar wind particles in the Martian environment. This particular instrument will also aid in our understanding of the red planet's loss of its atmosphereaeons ago.

Finally, the Langmuir Probe and Electric Field Experiment (LPEX) will enable the measurement of electron number density, electron temperature and electric field waves — which will give a better picture of the plasma environment on Mars.

The previous Mangalyaan mission was India's first interplanetary mission, which made the nation only the fourth country to achieve Mars orbit, after Russia's ROSCOSMOS, the US's NASA and the European Space Agency.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE

You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.