Journalism of Courage
A decision on the date of launch of India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) would be taken on Saturday,Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation K Radhakrishnan said.
Radhakrishnan said the ship-borne communication terminals are on their way to the South Pacific Ocean and their movement is being monitored.
“Some more information has to come. It (ship-borne
communication terminals) has to be positioned in the right place to see the injection (of mars orbiter spacecraft)”,he added. “So,that update we will get tomorrow”.
He also said the Launch Authorization Board would have another session tomorrow where the date would be finalized.
“Otherwise,every thing is fine with the satellite and launch
vehicle”.
The two ships SCI Yamuna and SCI Nalanda – leased from the Shipping Corporation of India to study the crucial period when the rocket ejects the spacecraft into space – left for
the South Pacific Ocean in mid-September from Visakhapatnam.
The launch window for the MOM mission is from October 28
to November 19.
The American NASA/JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) is also
providing communications and navigation support to this
mission with their deep space network facilities.
