India’s Mars Orbiter Mission probe ready for Mars orbit insertion

23 September 2014 Geoff Zeiss

Late breaking: The engine burn was successful and ISRO reports that the Mars Orbiter spacecraft is now in orbit about Mars.

Wednesday Sep 24 India’s Mangalyaan or Mars Orbiter Mission probe is scheduled to fire its main engine and small thrusters to slow itself down to insert the probe into an elliptical orbit about Mars. The probe was launched aboard a PSLV-C25 rocket from SDSC SHAR Sriharikota November 5, 2013.  There is a simulation video of the Mars Orbit Insertion maneuver.  A live webcast of the real event will be broadcast starting Wed 06:45 am IST, Tue 9:15 pm EDT.

The scientific objective of the mission is the remote sensing exploration of Mars surface features, morphology, mineralogy and Martian atmosphere using Indian-manufactured instruments.  One key goal is to try to detect methane in the Martian atmosphere, which could be an indicator of biological activity.

Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss has more than 20 years experience in the geospatial software industry and 15 years experience developing enterprise geospatial solutions for the utilities, communications, and public works industries. His particular interests include the convergence of BIM, CAD, geospatial, and 3D. In recognition of his efforts to evangelize geospatial in vertical industries such as utilities and construction, Geoff received the Geospatial Ambassador Award at Geospatial World Forum 2014. Currently Geoff is Principal at Between the Poles, a thought leadership consulting firm. From 2001 to 2012 Geoff was Director of Utility Industry Program at Autodesk Inc, where he was responsible for thought leadership for the utility industry program. From 1999 to 2001 he was Director of Enterprise Software Development at Autodesk. He received one of ten annual global technology awards in 2004 from Oracle Corporation for technical innovation and leadership in the use of Oracle. Prior to Autodesk Geoff was Director of Product Development at VISION* Solutions. VISION* Solutions is credited with pioneering relational spatial data management, CAD/GIS integration, and long transactions (data versioning) in the utility, communications, and public works industries. Geoff is a frequent speaker at geospatial and utility events around the world including Geospatial World Forum, Where 2.0, MundoGeo Connect (Brazil), Middle East Spatial Geospatial Forum, India Geospatial Forum, Location Intelligence, Asia Geospatial Forum, and GITA events in US, Japan and Australia. Geoff received Speaker Excellence Awards at GITA 2007-2009.

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