‘We took a huge risk and we won’

S. Arunan, Project Director, Mars Orbiter Mission, ISRO, led a team in designing the spacecraft, integrating the scientific instruments and getting the spacecraft ready in just 15 months. T.S. Subramanian spoke to Arunan soon after the MOM entered the Martian orbit.

How do you feel about ISRO’s success?

We are living our dream. I am living my dream.

How were you able to successfully navigate the spacecraft 65 crore km to Mars?

When a spacecraft is travelling through deep-space, there are many uncertainties. ISRO has an ability to predict accurately and we were confident about the mission’s success after the spacecraft’s trans-Mars injection. ISRO took a huge risk in MOM but we succeeded in it. It is the ability to walk into a fear that makes the project a success.

How do you assess our ability to communicate in deep space in the context of the MOM success?

The accuracy of our prediction comes from our communications system, which has worked to perfection. We were able to communicate about 224 million km of radio distance with our Mars orbiter. We have been able to communicate up to 400 million km radio distance.

You were confident earlier this week in the Liquid Apogee Motor on board.

The LAM and the eight small thrusters on the spacecraft worked to full thrust. So there was no problem. The velocity of the spacecraft was reduced by 1.099 metres a second. We got the exact velocity reduction we wanted to put the spacecraft into the Martian orbit.