Mission Design and Analysis for Mars Orbiter Mission

Mars orbiter mission (MOM) is India’s first interplanetary mission. MOM was planned to be launched by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) into an Earth elliptic parking orbit (EPO) in Oct-Nov 2013 utilizing the 2013 opportunity to rendezvous with Mars. This paper covers the mission design and analysis carried out for the MOM/PSLV mission. New software tools were designed and developed to design interplanetary trajectories, to generate total maneuver strategy from earth EPO to target Martian orbit, to design trajectory correction maneuvers in interplanetary cruise phase targeting to desired B-plane parameters and to design Mars orbit insertion maneuver. The launch window and optimum EPO requirements were generated and provided to PSLV. The target Martian orbit was selected considering all the specified s/c platform and payload constraints. Maneuver strategies were designed considering operational constraints and total mission profiles were studied comprising orbital events and Earth-Satellite-Sun geometry and distance characteristics. Non-nominal mission scenarios were studied, comprising launcher dispersions, missing any of the earth phase burns and backup maneuver plans generated. Mars orbit insertion maneuver strategy was designed considering nominal and non-nominal scenarios. MOM was launched on 5th November, 2013 and successfully captured into the desired Martian orbit on 24th September, 2014 achieving the main technological objective of the mission in India’s first interplanetary endeavor.