Volune 2, Issue-10 - Central University of Rajasthan

ASTITVA
Issue: X
October 2014
To all members
of
CURAJ family
2
DIWALI
iwali also known as Deepavali and the
"festival of lights", is an ancient Hindu festival celebrated in autumn every year. The
festival spiritually signifies the victory of
light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, and hope over despair. The festival preparations and rituals
typically extend over a five day period, but
the main festival night of Diwali coincides
with the darkest, new moon night of the
Hindu Lunisolar month Kartika. In the
Gregorian calendar, Diwali night falls between mid-October and mid-November.
Before Diwali night, people clean, renovate and decorate their homes. On Diwali
night, Hindus dress up in new clothes or
their best outfit, light up diyas (lamps and
candles) inside and outside their home,
participate in family puja typically to Lakshmi - the goddess of wealth and prosperity. After puja (prayers), fireworks
follow,then a family feast includingmithai
(sweets), and an exchange of gifts between
family members and close friends. Diwali
also marks a major shopping period in nations where it is celebrated.
Diwali is an important festival for Hindus.
The name of festive days as well as the rituals of Diwali vary significantly among
Hindus, based on the region of India. In
many parts of India, the festivities start
with Dhanteras, followed by Naraka
Chaturdasi on second day, Diwali on the
third day, Diwali Padva dedicated to wifehusband relationship on the fourth day, and
festivities end with Bhau-beej dedicated to
sister-brother bond on the fifth
day.Dhanteras usually falls eighteen days
after Dussehra.
On the same night that Hindus celebrate
Diwali, Jains celebrate a festival of lights
to mark the attainment of moksha by Mahavira, and Sikhs celebrate Bandi Chhor
Divas.
Diwali is an official holiday in India,
Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Mauritius,
Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname,
Malaysia, Singapore and Fiji.
Diwali is celebrated by Hindus, Jains, and
Sikhs to mark historical events, stories or
myths, but they all spiritually mark the victory of light over darkness, knowledge
over ignorance, good over evil, hope over
despair.
In the Yoga, Vedanta, and Samkhya
schools of Hindu philosophy, a central belief is that there is something beyond the
physical body and mind which is pure, infinite, and eternal, called the Atman. The
celebration of Diwali as the "victory of
good over evil", refers to the light of higher
knowledge dispelling all ignorance, the ignorance that masks one's true nature, not as
the body, but as the unchanging,
infinite,immanent and transcendent reality.
With this awakening comes compassion
and the awareness of the oneness of all
things, and knowledge overcomes ignorance. Diwali is the celebration of this
Inner Light over spiritual darkness, knowledge over ignorance, right over wrong,
good over evil.
3
‘
’
I Sem
dsanz ljdkj dh rjQ ls fn, x, funsZ”k dk
ikyu djrs gq, jktLFkku d¢Unzh¸k fo|kYk¸k
esa 2 vDVwcj dks lqcg 9%30 cts ls lQkÃ
vÇÒ¸kku dh “kq#vkr dh xbZ A bLk volj
ij lh ;w jkt ds dqyiÇr v©j lÒh f”k{kd
deZpkjh v©j fo|kFkÊ mIkfLFkRk FksaA bl
vfÒ¸kku dh “kq:vkr dqYkifRk us iwjs tks“k
ds lkFk fd;kA mUgksaus us dgk fd ;g dsoy
,d fnu dh ckr ugha gS gesa ;g lQkbZ
ges“kk gh djuh gksxhA ogka mifLFkr
fo|kfFkZ;ksa us ;g izfrKk Hkh yh fd ge gesa“kk
vius vkl&ikl dh lQkbZ j[ksaxs vkSj ,slk
ekgkSy cuk nsaxs fd yksx lQkbZ djus ds
fy, [kqn c [kqn izsfjr gks tk;saxAs ogka mifLFkr] dYpj ,oa ehfM;k foHkkx ds fo|kFkhZ
vfHkeU;q us dgk fd LoPN “kjhj esa gh LoPN
eu dk okl gksrk gSA blfy, gesa vius ru
dh lQkbZ ds fy, eu dh lQkbZ Hkh j[kuh
gksxhA vxj ge nhikoyh ioZ dh ckr Hkh
djsa rks Hkh bl ioZ esa lcls vf/kd egRrk
lQkbZ dh gSA bl ioZ esa ge ?kj dk
dksuk&dksuk lkQ djrs gSa rkfd gekjs ?kj
esa y{eh dk okl gksA lgh ek;uksa esa rks
bldk vFkZ ;g gS fd LoPNrk gh /ku gSA
In every aspect of life, purity and
holiness, cleanliness and
refinement, exalt the human
condition . . .
Even in the physical realm,
cleanliness will conduce to
spirituality.
Abdu'ul-Baha
4
Is Diwali the Festival of
Lights Or Crackers?
Rajesh Anchara, III Sem
Diwali is the festival of lights. It is also known
as’ Deepawali’. It is celebrated in our country
which joy and happiness every year. It is one of
the biggest festival of Hindus. Usually it comes
in the month of October and November after
twenty days of Dussehra, on the 13th day of the
dark fortnight of the month of Ashwin. It is celebrated in the memory of coming back home of
Lord Rama along with his wife Sita & brother
Laxman after 14 years of exile. It is believed
that on this day, Lord Rama returned to his kingdom, Ayodhya, after killing the demon, King
Ravana and people lighted earthen
diyas all around their house and
celebrated his victory over Raavan. It is asymbol of victory of good over evil.
Since then, the festival is celebrated
by lighting diyas
and candles to
drive away the
darkness
of
Amavasya and the
dark of ignorance.
Homes are decorated on the day of
diwali and sweets
are distributed.
Laxmi Puja is performed in the evening and blessings of Goddess
of Wealth is seeked. People present diwali gifts
to their near and dear ones. Earlier, it was celebrated with diyas but slowly it took the form of
lights, lighting lamps, candles and crackers.
Now a days, people burn dangerous fire crackers limitlessly. Crackers have big hand in polluting our environment. The toxic substances used
in the firecrackers release toxic gases that are
harmful to the health of all living beings. The
noise of the crackers cause immense suffering to
birds and animals. Diwali is the festival of lights
and not burning of the limitless crackers which
takes the form of air and noise pollution. We
should minimize the use of firecrackers during
diwali celebrations and other celebrations. Noiseless diwali has become the concept for the last
few years. It is slowly gathering momentum too.
But it has not yet reached that level to which we
all can say that yes, we celebrated a noiseless
safe and pollution free diwali. A festival must be
treated like a festival not like enjoyment or nuisance. There is no need to pollute the environment for this.
We must take steps
to make ourselves and
others aware to put an end
to noise through
rallies and hoardings. We must not
buy
unlimited
crackers instead of
that we can help a
poor
with
that
money. These days,
trend of diwali
greetings, diwali
messages, diwali
cards,
diwali
ecards, diwali calendar, diwali greeting cards, diwali flash,diwali
themes, diwali screensaver, diwali images, diwali
rangoli, diwali scraps, diwali designs, diwali
painting is going on. It seems and feels very nice
to wish each other by different means. But we
must also make each other aware of the harms of
the pollution caused by the firecrackers that leads
directly or indirectly to global warming. Hence,
Say ‘NO’ to Crackers and play a safe, noiseless
and pollution free Diwali.
5
Anurag Verma, III Sem
6
‘
’
‘
’, PhD Scholar, CMS
tkus fdrus fQYeh jhyksa dks csdkj djus ds ckn
fp=iV ij ,d ÞxkbZMß mrjk gksxk, ftlus nsokuan
dks egt dksbZ uk;d ;k fdjnkj u j[k dj ,d
fdEonUrh cuk fn;k A fQYe dk eq[; fdjnkj ,d
vke balku gksdj Hkh egkuk;d cu tkrk gS vkSj
dgkuh fQYeh gksdj Hkh thou n'kZu dh rjg fn[krh
gS A nsonklh dh csVh] BqdjkbZ gqbZ C;kgrk dks çJ;
nsdj lkekftd dqjhfr;ksa ls vk¡[ks feykus okyk galrk
[ksyrk gqvk eLrekSyk ckadk ukStoku vpkud gh çkS<+
vkSj vlk/kkj.k lk fn[kus yxrk gS A
dgkuh ;gha [kRe ugha gksrh ---- ;g rks balku ds
bZ'oj cuus dh xkFkk gS ftlesa nsoRo ls igys ,d
euq"; dk ,d euq"; ds :i mRFkku vkSj iru nksuks
gSa A gokvksa lax ckrsa djrk viuh eu ethZ dk
ekfyd jktw xkbZM rks iSjksa esa ca/kh gqbZ csfM+;ksa ds lkFk
ykpkj gj jkst ?kqVrh gqbZ jksth A t:jrean dh
enn djuk---fdlh dk lkFkh cu mlds liuks¡ dks
gdhdr esa cnyuk tgka ekuoh; ewY;ksa ds mR—"Vrk
dk iSekuk gS rks ogh¡ bldk cstk Qk;nk mBkuk] ;su
& dsu çdjs.k ml viuk gd tek;s j[kus dh dksf'k'k djuk iru dh ijkdk"Bk, jktw ftUnxh ds bu
nksuksa igyqvksa dks oä ds lkFk thrk gS A
xkbZM dk gj ,d Ýse gjsd –'; fdlh 'kkL=h;
laxhr dh jkfxuh tSlh gS] tks n'kZdksa dks vkfRed
vkuan dk vglkl fnykrh gS A var esa nqfu;koh
vuqHkoksa ls nhf{kr gks pqds jktw ds fy, u dksbZ nhu
gS u dksbZ nqfu;k u fdlh dks pkgrs jgus dk lq:j
u gh fdlh dks ftrk nsus dk xq#j A Hkys gh og nks
od~r dh jksVh dh lqfo/kk dks ns[krs gq, egkRek cus
jgus ds Lokax jprk gS ijUrq bl vfHku; esa ikgh Hkkoukvksa dh ckfj'k esa l{ke gS A rks vkb, fey dj xqtkfj'k
jaxrrk dh iw.kkZgqfr varr% mls vius çk.kksa dks Lokg% dj ds nsuh djs--- jkek es?k ns, es?k ns js, vks vYykg es?k ns js, ';kek es?k ns
gksrh gS A vkt laosnukvksa dh lq[kkM+ ds bl nkSj esa dksbZ ,slk xkbZM es?k ns es?k ns js ------ A
7
Anurag Verma, III Sem
8
Entrepreneur in Action
epartment of Economics and Economic Society have
successfully organized the event “Entrepreneur in Action” on October 16th 2014. The title of the event was
sponsored by “Bank of India CURAJ and Co-sponsored by Indian Taste, Sapna Studio, Manoj Printers,
Maruti Suzuki, Kuber, and Bhawani Tea Stall. We pay
our sincere thanks to all sponsors for making this event
a Grand Success.
The Event was inaugurated by the auspicious hands
of Hon’ble Vice Chancellor Sir at 11:30 AM. We pay
our sincere gratitude towards hon'ble Vice Chancellor
Sir, Prof. Supriya Agarwal, Dean School of Social Sciences, Prof. A.K. Gupta, Proctor Sir, Dr. S.N. Ambedkar, HOD PPLG department
and Ms Anuradha Mittal, PRO
for their valuable presence and
sharing in the inaugural ceremony. We are also thankful to
all faculty members, teaching
and non-teaching staff for
being with us in inaugural session.
Almost all faculties, students,
officers, and non-teaching staff
have attended the event. Department of Economics is
highly obliged to each and
everyone who motivated the
students by visiting the place.
We received excellent comments by all visitors in our visitor book. We are also thankful
to Dr. Ashwini Garg, Dr.
Manak Jain, Students (35 in
number) and faculties of commerce and Economics department of government college Kishangarh for their
valuable contribution and attending the event.
We are happy to announce that the total business of
the market was 53,201/- rupees and the total cost of
all Entrepreneurs were 19,496/- rupees. The estimated
profit of the day is 33,705/-. All participated teams
have earned profit and we also received the fund in
donation box by them worth of rupees 2518/-. Detail
of cost and profit analysis of all teams is enclosed
herewith for your reference.
The Market was closed at 6:00 PM and Prize Distribution Ceremony was held at 7:00 PM. We pay our
sincere gratitude towards Bank of India Manager Mr.
Yadav for being with us in Prize Distribution Ceremony.
All teams’ participation was really remarkable. Their
efforts for the profit maximization were easily noticed
in the event by the observation committee and organizers. But above all they did not take this event as the
competition. They were learning by enjoying. Congratulations to all teams for earning
profits. We wish a bright future for
all.
Special thanks to the promotion
stall coordinated by the students of
department of economics namely
Shivangi Sharma and Namrata
Bhardwaj for making the event
more interesting.
And the most important the Special
gratitude towards the Finance
Committee (Students Namely Kirandeep, Nafis, Kamal Ludhani,
Aswathi Nair, Justin Joy, Chandani,
Srishti and Jitendra Choudhary) for
their immense hard work and efficiency in maintaining records of
the accounts and selling the
coupons.
I am highly indebted to all faculties, students and Paras, Attendant
of the department for their immense support and hard work for
organizing the event.
This was the activity of learning by doing. We are hoping that department is successful at some extent to
make you learn at least few concepts of economics i.e.
fixed cost, maintaining variable cost, maximizing
profit and using appropriate marketing skills for the
business by doing this practically
....Next page
9
...Entrepreneur in Action
Winners...!!!
We congratulate the winners and runners of the event “Entrepreneur in Action”. The details for the same are as follow:
Winner
Stall No. 21(Mini Mall) -- Minakshi, Pritam, Bhavesh,
Manish Bhati (Department of Mathematics)
Runner Up
Stall No.17 (Junglee Sitara)-- Saurabh, Archit, Mohit,
Mukesh (Department of Management)
Best in Promotional & Marketing Skills
Stall No. 22 (Spicy Kitchen)--Naman Kulshrestha M.Sc.
Integrated Biotech), Sunita Gupta, Sonam Gangwar (MSc
MicroBio-I), Kalu (Non-Teaching)
Special Award as a token of respect and love for the
Spicy Kitchen: Mrs Gupta
Best in Eco-friendly & Quality of Product
Stall No 24(Chatkas)--Deepak, Sonu, Archana, Balram
(Department of Management)
Best in Cost Strategy: Stall No 08 (Min to Win)
Highest Profit earner and Most Popular Stall- Stall No
19 (HUD HUD Entertainment)
Second highest Profit Earner Stall -Stall No: 05 (Handishaft)
Best in Innovative Idea-Stall No 25(Hungama Masti)
Stroy Credit: Dr. Hemlata Manglani mam, Coordinator, Department of Economics
10
Anjali Gupta
ollege fests are the most effective way of
bringing youth under the same platform, enhance social interaction and facilitate technical and cultural ideas and thoughts.
Keeping this in mind and to celebrate this EDay, Department of Computer Science &
Engineering organized “ABHIYANTRIKI
2k14” fest (Abhiyantriki that means Engineering) from 11th-15th sept, 2014 that included 20 various technical, art, sports and
cultural events.
The fest was organized to provide a platform
to all so that they could showcase their talent
with a competitive spirit. The glamour of the
fest was when many faculties and staff members from other departments not only participated but contributed a lot to make this fest
a success.
The event which couraged more than a 100
students, about 30 judges, 40 game coordinators, Nonfaculty members and faculty
members. 20 Various programmes including
Computer games, puzzles, arts, color rain-
bow, sports, quizes etc. were the parts in the
event celebrated with utmost care of all the
CSE stuents and the faculty members.
A great success ozzed out of the coordinators
of this festival. Organising 17 events was a
The vibrant fest “ABHIYANTRIKI 2K14” ,
where highly energetic students toiled to win
appreciation for their talent. Prof. K.C.
Sharma,Dean of Academics was the chief
guest in the ceremony and Prof. Ram
Lakhan Meena, Dean of Student Welfare
was the guest of honour and all other department faculties and students were present
there.
It was started with a spectacular opening ceremony inaugurated by Prof. Ram Lakhan
Meena.
The cultural programme with various scintillating dance and melodious musical performances that had definitely bounded
everybody to tap their feet and sway on the
beats. The event captivated the audience and
left everyone mesmerized.
11
Sonali
The Dept. of Culture and Media Studies (CMS) organized the Media
Fest II that concluded on Sept. 04 in the university. The three-day Fest
included the attractive competition events like Photo Contest, Photo
Exhibition, Photo Caption Writing, Cartoon Making, Ad-Mad (Where
Creativity = Madness), Best out of Waste, Movie Review, Storytelling,
(Qissa-goi), Essay writing, 100 Sec. Video, and Live Talk Show.
The students from all departments took active parts in the various events. Participants captured the beautiful moments of
the photo contest on the theme of "Life in Curaj". The event
of Cartoon-making competition and sketch exhibition by
Dejen Alemayehu, a student in CMS department, attracted
the viewers. Other events: AD-MAD, Story-Telling, Best
out of Waste & Movie Review also were creative and
attracted the audiences and judges. In the event of
Best Out of Waste, students creatively presented
things like drums, house, wall-hanging etc. with
waste material such as egg cells, newspapers, old
clothes, video cassettes, etc. The students participated in
essay writing on the contemporary theme: ‘Globalization, Internet
and social change.’
The last day of Media Fest II was all the more attractive with colourful
cultural programmes. The diverse cultural items captured the audience.
The cultural programme included Chhatisgarhi Dance, Kathputli
Dance and Odessey Dance and fashion shows. The faculty members
and the students who watched the programmes in the Central auditorium, had great appreciation for the beautiful performances.
Anamya Aditya (PG Commerce) said: "it was an awesome presentation.’ Aditi Mishra expressed that the students of Culture and
Media Studies showed their innovative ideas all through the Media
Fest. Simran from PG Commerce said that Ramp Walk was unique. It
represented the different traditional costumes from different states of
India.
Prof. Ravi Chaturvedi of CMS Dept. expressed that the programme
was highly successful. The Fest was organized by the department of
Culture and Media Studies, but all departments participated in it. The
main concept behind organizing the annual media fest was to provide
a platform for the students to bring out their creativities and talents.
12
Minakshi Beniwal
13
COMPUTERS AND MOBILE DOCTORS-2014
he Department of Computer Science organized an event titled ‘Computer and Mobile
Doctors-2014’ on 22/09/2014. The event
aimed at the troubleshooting and diagnosing
various software related issues of computers
and mobiles of various students, faculty and
non-teaching staff of the university.
There were 6 panels, each comprising of 3
students who were involved in the event. A
total of about 95 gadgets were diagnosed by
the students. And about every machine was
updated and upgraded. And a feedback form
was filled by each beneficiary for the purpose
of self-evaluation. The faculty of the depart-
ment played an active part in the event by assisting the students with the entire troubleshooting process.
Additionally a collection bin was placed in
the premises of the troubleshooting center to
collect money for the benefit of the community college of the campus. Accordingly a
sum of Rs 2500 was donated by willing
members of the faculty, students and nonteaching staff. The sum was accordingly donated to the Day Care Center of the
University for the purpose of the benefit of
the children of the laborers studying in the
place.
From the Department of CS
14
A giant interplanetary leap to Mars
Rintu Nath
India created history on its maiden attempt in an interplanetary mission. On 24 September 2014, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully placed Mars
Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft, also known as Mangalyaan, in the orbit of Mars. MOM
is an orbiter craft designed to orbit Artist's rendering
of the Mangalyaan
Mars in an elliptical orbit. For the orbiting Mars
next six to ten months, MOM will (Source Wikipedia)
remain a satellite of Mars, click pictures and sniff out details on the atmosphere and morphology of the
red planet.
India is the first country to reach
Mars’s orbit on a maiden venture,
and the first Asian country to launch
a successful Mars mission, all with much less expenditure
than any other Mars mission before it.
MOM is India's first interplanetary mission and ISRO has
become the fourth space agency in the world to reach
Mars, after the Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS), US space agency NASA, and the European Space
The ISRO’s Mars Orbiter captured
this global view of Mars with its Mars
Colour Camera on 28 September
2014, from a distance of 74,500 kilometres [Source: ISRO]
The Mars Orbiter will be able
to capture full-globe views when
it is near the apoapsis of its orbit
(farthest from the surface). The
spacecraft will spend most of its time near apoapsis. As a result, the Mars Orbiter will be able to capture a series of
global views of Mars at different phases and of different
parts of the planet over time.
Agency (ESA). Before ISRO, only the European Space
Agency could place its orbiter right in the first attempt
(‘Mars Express’ in 2003). However, India can claim to be
the first country to achieve the distinction, as the European
Space Agency is a conglomeration of
several countries. Japan and China
are the other Asian countries that had
attempted Mars missions, but failed.
Accomplished at a cost of around Rs
450 crore, which in itself is an
achievement as the most economical
interplanetary space mission till date,
the Mars Orbiter Mission is an ambitious leap forward for India’s space
programme.
After its launch on 5 November 2013, Mangalyaan has
travelled over 670 million kilometres (radio distance is
210 million kilometres) between Earth and the red planet
during its 300 days’ journey. A number of manoeuvring
was done by ISRO scientists to ensure successful insertion
of the orbiter into Mars orbit.
ISRO’s Mars Orbiter
took this photo of the
hazy limb of Mars on
24 September 2014,
just two hours after
entering orbit, from
an altitude of about
8,449
kilometres.
[Source: ISRO]
Mars's limb
from Mars
Orbiter
spacecraft
Apoapsis and periapsis
Orbit of the orbiter around Mars
When the spacecraft is closer to Mars, it will be able to capture detailed view
of a part of the planet’s surface.
....Next page
15
A giant interplanetary leap to Mars...
As it goes around Mars in a highly elliptical orbit, with the form deep space communication, navigation, mission planclosest point of around 420 km and the farthest of around ning, and management; and incorporate autonomous features
80,000 km, the Mars Orbiter will employ five instruments to to categorise and handle contingency situations.
do scientific studies like exploration of surface features, mor- Although the mission is primarily a technological mission, it
phology, and mineralogy and study
has a number of scientific objectives like
of Martian atmosphere.
exploration of Mars’ surface features,
Interestingly, only three days before
morphology, mineralogy and its atmosISRO’s Mangalyaan arrived at
phere.The Mars Orbiter carries five sciMars, on 21 September, NASA’s
entific payloads to observe Martian
MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and
surface, atmosphere and exosphere exVolatile Evolution) spacecraft suctending up to 80,000 km for a detailed
cessfully entered Mars’ orbit. Both
understanding of the evolution of the
Mangalyaan and MAVEN will supplanet, especially the related geologic
MOM
is
being
maneuvered
from
ISRO's
Mars
misplement each other in solving the
and the possible biogenic processes. The
sion control complex in Bangalore
mystery of Mars’ missing water.
payloads consist of a camera (Mars
While on the ground, Curiosity - NASA’s robotic rover con- Colour Camera), two spectrometers, a radiometer, and a photinues to search for local evidence of past and present water, tometer. Together, they have a weight of about 15 kg.
MAVEN’s investigation, along with those of Mangalyaan, Considering the critical mission operations and stringent rewill provide necessary data to scientists for better understand- quirements for spacecraft navigation to put the orbiter in graving of the planet. Together, these missions could reveal the itational sphere of influence of Mars, ISRO has already
entire planet’s geological history.
achieved the technological objective.
Mission objectives
While writing this article, four out of five instruments have
Mars Orbiter Mission is India's first interplanetary mission to already been activated. Mars Colour Camera (MCM) has capplanet Mars with an orbiter craft designed to orbit Mars. The tured and sent back breathtaking views of Mars. The images
mission is designed to demonstrate India’s capability to per- returned from the Mars Orbiter are truly captivating.
Journey to Mars
It was in 2008 when ISRO launched its first Moon mission
Chandrayaan-1. The Mars mission was conceptualised during this time. A feasibility study was conducted in 2010 and
subsequently the project was approved by Government of
India.
Scientists from ISRO, Physical Research Laboratory (PRL),
and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) took about 15
months for the design and construction of the spacecraft and
preparation of the launch vehicle, aiming for a target launch
date of 28 October 2013. The launch date was calculated to
meet the trans-Mars injection requirements needed to place
the Mars Orbiter into the correct heliocentric Mars transfer
orbit. Scientists of ISRO calculated the manoeuvring sequence and procedure of the orbiter based on the location of
the launch, the orbital insertion parameters at Mars, resource
availability in the spacecraft, the orbital positions of Earth
and Mars at the time of the Mars Orbiter’s arrival at the gravitational sphere of influence of Mars and many other factors.
Launch
of
Mangalyaan
Mangalyaan in the making
....Next page
16
A giant interplanetary leap to Mars...
Construction on the Mars Orbiter was successfully completed time at 14:38 hrs IST from the First Launch Pad at the Satish
on schedule on 2 October 2013, and the spacecraft was Dhawan Space Centre. Over the next 42 minutes, the PSLVshipped to its launch site in Sriharikota. The orbiter was in- XL inserted the orbiter into Earth orbit, a process completed
tegrated on top of its PSLV-XL (Polar Satellite Launch Vehi- at 15:20 hrs IST.
cle) rocket – which had been under assembly since August The successful launch of the Mars Orbiter Mission marked
2013.
India’s entry into interplanetary space.
The use of the PSLV-XL rocket was a change from the orig- A series of five planned orbit raising manoeuvres began, coninal mission proposal that recommended the use of the more- trolled by engineers at the Spacecraft Control Centre at
powerful Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). ISRO’s telemetry, tracking and command network in Peenya,
However, the GSLV had failed
Bangalore.
twice in 2010 and to find the
Of the five planned manoeuvres,
cause of failure took time. ISRO
the first was a 416-second firing
did not want to take a chance and
of the spacecraft’s liquid engine
decided to use the tried and tested
(LAM), the second a 570.6-secpolar satellite launch vehicle
ond burn, and the third a 707-sec(PSLV). Time of launch was cruond burn. At this point, the Mars
cial. If it could be done sometime
Orbiter’s apogee was 71,636
in November 2013, less energy
km.During the fourth burn, an
would be required to insert the
under-burn prevented the spaceorbiter in the gravitational field of
craft’s apogee from reaching the
influence of Mars. If launch is deplanned 1,00,000 km. Instead, the
layed, ISRO would have to wait
orbiter was in a 78,276-km
till 2016 when the next Mars
apogee orbit. The resulting underlaunch window would open. Image shows trajectory correction manoeuvres undertaken by burn mandated the addition of a
Therefore ISRO decided to launch ISRO throughout the journey of MOM (image courtesy ISRO) supplementary orbit raising mathe mission with a PSLV-XL
noeuvre of the orbiter. After this
rocket that carried six stretched solid rocket motors using 12 supplementary orbit raising manoeuvre (starting at 05:03 hrs
tons of solid propellant instead of the 9 tons used in the stan- IST on 12 November 2013, with a burn time of 303.8 secdard PSLV variant.
onds) height of the apogee was increased from 78,276 km
The switch in launch vehicle, however, meant that MOM to 1,18,642 km.
could no longer be launched directly into a Mars transfer The fifth orbit raising manoeuvre of the orbiter took place on
orbit. Rather, the craft would have to be launched into an 16 November 2013, with a burn time of 243.5 seconds.
elongated Earth orbit, and then perform a series of orbit-rais- Height of the apogee now increased from 1,18,642 km to
ing manoeuvres to raise its apogee while using Earth’s grav- 1,92,874km.
ity to sling-shot it into the correct Mars transfer orbit.
With the needed apogee achieved, spaceflight controllers iniAs launch preparations continued, MOM’s launch date was tiated a 1328.89-second engine firing manoeuvre on 1 Derescheduled from 28 October to 5 November 2013 because cember 2013 to place the orbiter into a heliocentric transfer
of the delayed arrival of a necessary telemetry ship at the Fiji orbit towards the red planet. Trans-Mars Injection (TMI) opIslands in the Pacific, which would track the satellite after eration was completed successfully at 00:30 hrs IST on 1 Delaunch. On 5 November 2013, the orbiter was launched on cember 2013.
Cruise to Mars
After leaving Earth orbit, a total of three trajectory course
manoeuvres were performed to ensure that the Mars Orbiter
is aligned into the proper trajectory for arrival at Mars.
On 22 September 2014 at 14:30 hrs IST, spacecraft controllers successfully fired the 440N liquid apogee motor for
3.9 seconds. The test firing confirmed the engine’s viability
for planned orbital insertion operations 41 hours later.
Mars Orbital Insertion (MOI)
As the Mars Orbiter approached Mars for orbital insertion,
the spacecraft reoriented itself to align its thrust with the
craft’s line of travel. Once in the proper orientation, the orbiter, already under the influence of Mars’s gravity, passed
into the shadow of Mars. This entry into the Martian shadow
occurred five minutes before the start of the Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI) burn. As the MOI burn began, Mars Orbiter’s
main liquid engine and eight smaller thrusters fired to begin
reducing the vehicle’s velocity to 1,098.7 metres per second.
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A giant interplanetary leap to Mars...
As this burn began, the spacecraft moved behind Mars as
viewed from the telemetry and tracking stations on Earth,
thereby severing the radio communications link between the
spacecraft and ground controllers. The duration of the mission-critical MOI burn occurred while communications with
the spacecraft were blocked.
After the MOI burn
Once the MOI burn was completed, the spacecraft began reorienting itself to point its main communications antenna toward the location where Earth will be when the spacecraft
emerged from the communications blackout period. With
MOI burn successfully accomplished, the Mars Orbiter entered a highly elliptical orbit around the red planet at 07:30
IST on 24 September 2014, marking the success of the first
Indian interplanetary mission.
International cutting edge
Despite being a technology demonstration, the MOM will
morph into a truly scientific mission as it carries five sophisticated equipment. The Mars Colour Camera (MCC) is the
"eye of the mission", meant to capture images and information about the surface features and composition of the Mars.
MCC has already captured and sent back global view and
detailed views of Mars.
The global scientific community is very excited about India's
effort to send the first dedicated methane gas sensor to Mars.
The presence of methane gas, also called "marsh gas", on
Earth is one of the clinching signs of the presence of carbonbased life forms. Findings of ISRO’s Mars Orbiter will be
vital in supplementing the findings of MAVEN and other
spacecraft orbiting Mars and surface rovers like Curiosity
and Opportunity. With new data, global scientific community would be one step closer in unfolding the mystery of the
red planet. Through spearheading cutting edge technology
demonstration like MOM, ISRO has once again proved the
science and technology capability of India.
Way ahead
ISRO can now look forward with confidence to its other future missions the second Moon mission - Chandrayaan-2 that
is to land a rover on the Moon's surface, possibly in 2017;
launching Aditya-1 a spacecraft to study the Sun; and the
ambition of putting Indians in Earth orbit as part of its
Human Spaceflight Programme.
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Happy Diwali
by
ASTITVA Editorial Team