Live
- Radhika Apte welcomes first child, shares heartfelt post
- Jacqueline dazzles at Da-Bangg Reloaded concert
- Time to boost measures to prevent drowning, save children: WHO
- TDP achieves milestone with 73 lakhs membership registration, says Chandrababu
- South Korea: Main Oppn hails Yoon's impeachment motion passage as 'victory for people, democracy'
- RG Kar issue: Tension flared over parallel protests by Congress, SUCI(C) outside CBI offices
- After furore, Central Railway revokes order to raze Lord Hanuman Temple at Dadar
- Now hoteliers' body in Bengal's Alipurduar shut doors for Bangladeshi tourists
- District Collector Encourages Students to Utilize Government Facilities for a Better Future
- Per capita availability of fruits, vegetables increases in India
Mom survives solar clipse, emits signal
India\'s maiden Mars Orbiter Mission survived a 15- day solar eclipse (June 8-22) and emitted signals back to earth, the space agency chief said on Friday. \"Our Orbiter spacecraft has survived the blackout in the Martian atmosphere when sun came in between the red planet and the earth and was cut off from us.
Bengaluru: India's maiden Mars Orbiter Mission survived a 15- day solar eclipse (June 8-22) and emitted signals back to earth, the space agency chief said on Friday. "Our Orbiter spacecraft has survived the blackout in the Martian atmosphere when sun came in between the red planet and the earth and was cut off from us.
Coming out of the eclipse phase, it is communicating signals," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman A S Kiran Kumar said. The 1,340 kg spacecraft was under solar conjunction from June 8 when it went behind the sun and away from the earth due to solar eclipse, which occurs once in 26 months over the red planet.
"The Orbiter's communication signals that were disrupted by the sun's corona (outer atmosphere) during the fortnight-long eclipse got activated and its five payloads (scientific instruments) resumed activities after being on autonomous mode," Kiran Kumar said on the margins of a a global conference on "Science for Society" by alumni of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).
Noting the spacecraft had withstood a crucial phase of nine months after reaching the Martian orbit, he said the Orbiter would continue to spin around the red planet for years as it had saved enough fuel since its November 5, 2013 launch from Sriharikota spaceport.
"Though the Orbiter's initial lifespan was intended to last six months after entering the Martian orbit (on September 24, 2014), it has been extended since March and is likely to survive many years as it is hardly using any fuel," he said. Lauding the scientists for the mission's success, he said from the Orbiter's launch till its insertion after a 10-month voyage through the inter-planetary space, the mission did not encounter any untoward incident or deviation, which otherwise would have consumed precious fuel though provision was made for such occurrence.
