Isro is working out the details if the spacecraft ran out of fuel and battery power, or if communication was lost due to an automated maneuver while exiting a long eclipse that changes the direction of the antenna.
However, multiple sources confirmed that the spacecraft could not be recovered. The director of Isro’s UR Rao Satellite Center (URSC) on September 27 said the same and Isro will officially announce it soon, a scientist said.
Another senior scientist told TOI: “There was a really long eclipse in April 2022. The satellite was designed with autonomous functions to get out of eclipses and has done so in the past. During eclipse recovery. The other reason could be that while exiting the eclipse a command for a roll-spin to change direction is made, which may have caused the antenna to change direction towards Earth.
As previously reported by TOI, the spacecraft had managed two black-out phases during an eclipse and a white-out phase in the first year around Mars and another in the second year. In all of these cases, the spacecraft was completely autonomous with no help from the ground.
The Rs 450 crore mission, which was launched on the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), placed India in an elite club of nations for having served a mission to Mars. That the country reached it in its first attempt was a flagship.
“Now, we are trying to ascertain the exact reason, whether it is running out of fuel or the antenna being unable to communicate, but one thing is certain, we will no longer be able to recover the spacecraft,” he continued. scientist explained.
Carrying five payloads, including a methane sensor for Mars (MSM) and the Mars Color Camera (MCC), MOM had sent more than 1 TB (one terabyte) of data from the red planet in his first year and at least 5 TB of data when he completed five years.
However, Isro has yet to officially announce anything about methane detection, which was one of Mum’s main targets.
That said, the mission’s science data has been rich and has led to several articles over the years, and a large dataset is still being analyzed by various scientific institutions.
