Interplanetary Robots: Mangalyaan
Mangalyaan (MOM) has completed 1000 days in orbit today. It was the first craft to enter successfully into Martian orbit on the first attempt.
MOM is a tech demonstrator. It’s not equipped to perform intensive science & the whole thing was a trial to see if insertion could work.
It does have some instruments for basic science: studying surface, identifying minerals, radiation & detection of methane in atmosphere
The methane sensor is not very powerful, so we don’t expect any result from it. We didn’t get much after one year.
However, MOM does have a good camera, so the images from the craft are stunning in detail!
It is also in an orbit so elongated that it is the only orbiter around Mars at the moment to offer global views of the planet.
MOM also captures Phobos and Deimos orbiting below it and crossing over the planet. Here’s a gif of Phobos I made from its data.
