Salome Phelamei
New Delhi: India's historic Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) celebrates its first birthday on the Red Planet on Thursday.
Also Read: ISRO releases Mars atlas to mark Mangalyaan's first birthday in space
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), whose Mars spacecraft has put India on the elite global space club, is celebrating the first anniversary of Mars Orbit Insertion by releasing an atlas of images taken by the Mars Colour Camera (MCC) and some results from the Mars Methane Sensor.
The Mars Orbiter Mission, also called Mangalyaan, was launched on 5 November 2013 by ISRO. It was successfully inserted into the Red Planet orbit on 24 September 2014, after a 298-day transit to Mars.
Also Read: ISRO to celebrate Mangalyaan anniversary with 'The Martian'
Thus, SRO became the fourth space agency to reach Mars, after the Soviet space program, NASA, and the European Space Agency.
With ISRO's successful Mars mission, India is the first Asian nation to reach Mars orbit, and the first country in the world to do so in its first attempt.
As Mangalyaan marked its first birthday in the Martican orbit today, September 24, here are some of the stunning images of the Red Planet captured by India's Mars spacecraft's camera:
First photo of Mars
This picture is the first image of Mars from Mangalyaan spacecraft after its arrival at the Red Planet. The Indian Space Research Organisation released the photo on September 24, 2014.
First Martian atmosphere view
Mangalyaan captured this photo of the Martian atmosphere just after arriving at Mars on September 24, 2014. This is the second photo of Mars from India's first Mars probe.The Indian Space Research Organisation released the image on September 25.
3-D image of Mars
Soon after creating history in space, India's Mars Orbiter Mission sent back this first 3D image of the Red Planet captured by its cameras onboard the satellite.
The image was captured by MOM’s Mars Colour Camera from an altitude of nearly 74,500 km on September 28.
Dust storm on Mars
MOM'S camera captured an image of regional dust storm over the Northern hemisphere of Mars, taken from an altitude of 74,500 kms from the surface of Mars.
3-D images of Canyon on Mars
Mangalyaan, which is India's first interplanetary mission clicked stunning three-dimensional images of the Valles Marineris, a 5,000 kilometers long canyon on the Red Planet.
This images, released on the occasion of Independence Day, were taken on July 19 when Mangalyaan was at an altitude of 1857 km from the surface of Mars.
Taytay Crater
ISRO released this stunning image of Taytay Crater on Mars, captured by its Mars Colour Camera onboard Mars Orbiter spacecraft. The spectacular image was taken on 13th August 2015 at an altitude of 3419 km with a resolution of 170 m.
Tyrrhenus Mons on Mars
ISRO released image of Tyrrhenus Mons in Hesperia Planum region taken by its Mars Color Camera (MCC) on 25-02-2015 at a spatial resolution of 166m from an altitude of 3192km.
Tyrrhenus Mons or Tyrrhena Patera is a large volcano in the Mare Tyrrhenum quadrangle of Mars, located at 21.36° south latitude and 253.47° west longitude.
According to ISRO, Mangalyaan, which scientists initially estimated to last for six months, will now last for many more years as the spacecraft has outperformed and still has enough fuel (35 kg) left with it.
Earlier in March, MOM's life was extended for another six months due to surplus fuel.
Furthermore, the Indian space agency will also bring out a book 'Fishing hamlet to Mars' on November 5 - the day Mangalyaan was launched into the orbit.
