October 19, 2013
Delay due to bad weather in the Pacific Ocean
Chennai: India's Mars Orbiter Mission, scheduled for launch on October 28, has been delayed due to bad weather and the fresh date will be announced later, said the space agency chief.
October 19, 2013
Delay due to bad weather in the Pacific Ocean
Chennai: India's Mars Orbiter Mission, scheduled for launch on October 28, has been delayed due to bad weather and the fresh date will be announced later, said the space agency chief.
For the first time, India is deploying two special ships hired from the Shipping Corporation of India, SCI Nalanda and SCI Yamuna, and these will monitor the health and movement of India's rocket several minutes after the launch when it is coasting in the sky over the Pacific Ocean. This is a special requirement for the Mars mission.
"Of the two ships Nalanda and Yamuna, only Yamuna has reached Fiji. Nalanda has not reached there. It is expected to reach Fiji only around October 21. So the Mars mission will not happen Oct 28. As the launch window is between Oct 28-Nov 19, we will decide on the revised date after the ship reaches Fiji," Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) chairman K Radhakrishnan told IANS.
He said the delay will be by a week and by October 22, the launch date is expected to be known.
The ship has terminals to track the rocket, which has a coasting period of around 20 minutes beyond the visibility of existing ground stations.
Radhakrishnan said the rocket has been assembled and the satellite integration is on now.
"In two days it will be over and then there will be checks on the rocket and satellite systems," he said.
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