Contents

Sphere of Influence (SOI): ............................................................................................................................. 1

Propellant System of MOM .......................................................................................................................... 2
What is Liquid Propellants? ...................................................................................................................... 3
Cryogenic propellants ........................................................................................................................... 3
Hypergolic propellants (Used in MOM ................................................................................................. 3
The oxidizer ........................................................................................................................................... 4
What is Solid Propellants ? ....................................................................................................................... 4
What is Hohmann transfer? ...................................................................................................................... 4
How you will know that the orbiter is travelling in right direction in deep space? ...................................... 5
Range Finder & Speed ................................................................................................................................... 6
What is Doppler shift ? ............................................................................................................................. 6
Doppler In Measuring Distance Star Movement ................................................................................... 7
MOMs Radiation challenge! ........................................................................................................................ 8
Van Allen radiation belt ........................................................................................................................ 8
Magnetic Field of Mars? ........................................................................................................................... 9
Rad ............................................................................................................................................................ 9
The gray ................................................................................................................................................. 9
The curie ............................................................................................................................................... 9
Orbital Inclination ..................................................................................................................................... 9
Ascending Node and Descending Node .............................................................................................. 11
Attitude In space ..................................................................................................................................... 12
Orbital Eccentricity .................................................................................................................................. 13
Semi-major axis ....................................................................................................................................... 13


Sphere of Influence (SOI):
The Sphere of Influence is nothing but the bending the space time fabric (gravity as per
Einstein's theory).The Sun is much more massive than any of the planets (332,946 times more
massive than Earth) and its gravity dominates the Solar System. Only very near to the planets, the
planetary gravity become stronger than that of the Sun. This region around the planet is
referred to as the Sphere of Influence (SOI) of that planet.

SOI of Earth is 9.25 lakh km. Orbits of the Moon and all the artificial satellites of Earth fall
inside this sphere
Sun's sphere of influence is the region where the gravity of Sun dominates as compared to the
rest of the galaxy. This region extends up to about two light years which is well beyond the orbit
of Pluto.




Propellant System of MOM
The propellants namely Monomethylhyrdazine and Nitrogen Tetroxide (both Liquid
Propellants ) are stored in Titanium tanks with a combined storage capacity of 852 Kg.
This being a pressure fed system, about 67 litres of Helium is used to pressurise the
propellants into the combustion chamber.
What is Liquid Propellants?
In a liquid propellant rocket, the fuel and oxidizer are stored in separate tanks, and are fed
through a system of pipes, valves etc. to a combustion chamber where they are combined and
burned to produce thrust. Liquid propellant engines are more complex than their solid propellant
counterparts, however, they offer several advantages. By controlling the flow of propellant to the
combustion chamber, the engine can be throttled, stopped, or restarted.
A good liquid propellant is one with a high specific impulse or, stated another way, one with a
high speed of exhaust gas ejection. This implies a high combustion temperature and exhaust
gases with small molecular weights. However, there is another important factor that must be
taken into consideration: the density of the propellant. Using low-density propellants means that
larger storage tanks will be required, thus increasing the mass of the launch vehicle. Storage
temperature is also important. A propellant with a low storage temperature, i.e. a cryogenic, will
require thermal insulation, thus further increasing the mass of the launcher. The toxicity of the
propellant is likewise important. Safety hazards exist when handling, transporting, and storing
highly toxic compounds
Cryogenic propellants are liquefied gases stored at very low temperatures, most frequently
liquid hydrogen) as the fuel and liquid oxygen as the oxidizer. Hydrogen remains liquid at
temperatures of -253 Degree Celsius and oxygen remains in a liquid state at temperatures of -183
Degree Celsius
Because of the low temperatures of cryogenic propellants, they are difficult to store over long
periods of time. For this reason, they are less desirable for use in military rockets that must be
kept launch ready for months at a time. Furthermore, liquid hydrogen has a very low density
(0.071 g/ml) and, therefore, requires a storage volume many times greater than other fuels.
Despite these drawbacks, the high efficiency of liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen makes these
problems worth coping with when reaction time and storability are not too critical. Liquid
hydrogen delivers a specific impulse about 30%-40% higher than most other rocket fuels.Liquid
oxygen and liquid hydrogen are used as the propellant in the high efficiency main engines of the
Space Shuttle.
Hypergolic propellants (Used in MOM) are fuels and oxidizers that ignite spontaneously on
contact with each other and require no ignition source. The easy start and restart capability of
hypergols make them ideal for spacecraft maneuvering systems. Also, since hypergols remain
liquid at normal temperatures, they do not pose the storage problems of cryogenic propellants.
Hypergols are highly toxic .
Hypergolic fuels commonly include hydrazine, monomethyl hydrazine (MMH) and
unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine (UDMH). Hydrazine gives the best performance as a rocket
fuel, but it has a high freezing point and is too unstable for use as a coolant. MMH is more stable
and gives the best performance when freezing point is an issue, such as spacecraft propulsion
applications.
The oxidizer is usually nitrogen tetroxide (NTO) or nitric acid. Nitrogen tetroxide is less
corrosive than nitric acid and provides better performance, but it has a higher freezing point.
Consequently, nitrogen tetroxide is usually the oxidizer of choice when freezing point is not an
issue, however, the freezing point can be lowered with the introduction nitric oxide. The
resulting oxidizer is called mixed oxides of nitrogen (MON).
What is Solid Propellants ?
Solid propellant motors are the simplest of all rocket designs. They consist of a casing, usually
steel, filled with a mixture of solid compounds (fuel and oxidizer) that burn at a rapid rate,
expelling hot gases from a nozzle to produce thrust. When ignited, a solid propellant burns from
the center out towards the sides of the casing. The shape of the center channel determines the rate
and pattern of the burn, thus providing a means to control thrust. Unlike liquid propellant
engines, solid propellant motors cannot be shut down. Once ignited, they will burn until all the
propellant is exhausted.(Hence Not Used In MOM because Required Restarting of Engine)

The Travelling Wave Tube Amplifier generates 210 W RF power.
It's not the shortest route. The shortest distance between Mars and Earth is 54.6 million
km. launching in the shortest route possible to Mars and then, decelerating to match the
planet's speed, would require an extremely large amount of fuel.
The motion of MOM is hyperbolic after it has achieved the escape velocity. Then, once it
crosses the Earth's sphere of influence (SOI), it follows the elliptical orbit around sun.
This is because, outside Earth's SOI, Sun's gravitation is the dominant one.
The route which requires least amount of fuel is an elliptical orbit which forms a tangent
to the Mars' and Earth's Orbit around sun. MOM is traveling a distance of about 680
million km in this elliptical trajectory. This kind of transfer is called a Hohmann
transfer.
What is Hohmann transfer?
When travelling among the planets, it's a good idea to minimize the propellant mass
needed by your spacecraft and its launch vehicle. That way, such a flight is possible with
current launch capabilities, and costs will not be prohibitive. The amount of propellant
needed depends largely on what route you choose. Trajectories that by their nature need a
minimum of propellant are therefore of great interest.

To launch a spacecraft from Earth to an outer planet such as Mars using the least
propellant possible, first consider that the spacecraft is already in solar orbit as it sits on
the launch pad. This existing solar orbit must be adjusted to cause it to take the spacecraft
to Mars: The desired orbit's perihelion (closest approach to the sun) will be at the distance
of Earth's orbit, and the aphelion (farthest distance from the sun) will be at the distance of
Mars' orbit. This is called a Hohmann Transfer orbit. The portion of the solar orbit that
takes the spacecraft from Earth to Mars is called its trajectory.
There will be one opportunity for a Hohmann transfer in every synodic period of the
planet. Synodic period for a planet is the time it takes to return to the same position
relative to sun as seen from earth Earth. Synodic period for Mars is 780 Days (almost two
years).
Hohmann transfer to Mars is possible when Mars is ahead of Earth by an angle of about
44 degree, when measured at the centre of Sun. So, Hohmann transfer opportunity to
Mars is present in almost every alternate years.

How you will know that the orbiter is travelling in right direction in deep
space?

Range, velocity and angular measurements performed periodically to determine the orbit of the
spacecraft and to compare it with the predicted trajectory. MOM uses radio based techniques for
ranging. MOM is also equipped with Delta-Differential One-way Ranging capability which
provides improved angular measurements which is essential for interplanetary missions.

Range Finder & Speed
A coded ranging pulse is sent to spacecraft to measure its distance from ground. When
the spacecraft receives this pulse, it returns the pulse on its down-link. The distance to the
spacecraft and ground station can be computed from the delay between sending and
receiving this pulse. The speed at which the spacecraft is moving away from the ground
station is determined by measuring the Doppler shift.
What is Doppler shift ?

When the source of the waves is moving toward the observer each wave takes slightly less time
to reach the observer than the previous wave. Therefore the time between the arrival of
successive wave crests at the observer is reduced causing an increase in the frequency.
Conversely, if the source of waves is moving away from the observer, each wave is emitted from
a position farther from the observer than the previous wave, so the arrival time between
successive waves is increased, reducing the frequency.

A car engine sound higher in pitch when it is approaching than when it is receding. The pink
circles are sound waves. When the car is moving to the left, each successive wave is emitted
from a position further to the left than the previous wave. So for an observer in front (left) of the
car, each wave takes slightly less time to reach him than the previous wave. The waves "bunch
together", so the time between arrival of successive wavefronts is reduced, giving them a higher
frequency. The waves "stretch apart",(Right) so the time between the arrival of successive wave-
fronts is increased slightly, giving them a lower frequency
.
Doppler In Measuring Distance Star Movement :( Daily NASA come up With another Distance
star/Planet/Galaxy)
Observers looking at an object that is moving away from them see light that has a longer
wavelength than it had when it was emitted (a redshift), while observers looking at an
approaching source see light that is shifted to shorter wavelength (a blueshift).



.



MOMs Radiation challenge!



The two doughnut shaped blankets that shroud the Earth with highly charged plasma particles
comprising of electrons, protons and nuclei are called Van Allen Radiation belts.
MOM has successfully sustained several passes of these lethal radiation belts speculated to have
been formed by furious solar winds and harmful cosmic rays.
These belts are a part of Earths inner magnetosphere and stretch from an altitude of 1000 km to
60,000 km above Earth.

Prolonged exposure to these belts poses a significant threat to various sensitive components of a
spacecraft.ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft is designed with sufficient safeguards against
such fatal particles
Van Allen radiation belt is one of at least two layers of energetic charged particles (plasma) that
is held in place around the planet Earth by the planet's magnetic field. The belts extend from an
altitude of about 1,000 to 60,000 kilometers above the surface in which region radiation levels
vary. Most of the particles that form the belts are thought to come from solar wind and other
particles by cosmic rays.
Magnetic Field of Mars?
Scientists think that Mars had a global magnetic field like that of Earth, which was disappeared
billions of years ago. Without the protection of this magnetic field, most of the water and
atmosphere escaped from Mars. In the absence of Magnetic field, radiation belts also won't
sustain.
All the parts used in MOM have been evaluated successfully against a radiation of up to 12
krads. This gives a safety margin factor of 2 after considering the kind of radiation MOM is
exposed to, during Geocentric, Heliocentric and Martian orbits put together.
Rad : The rad is a deprecated unit of absorbed radiation dose. Silicon-based microelectronics
break down under exposure to radiation. Radiation-hardened components designed for military
or nuclear applications can survive up to 10 gigarad .
1 rad = 0.01 Gy = 0.01 J/kg
25 rad: lowest dose to cause clinically observable blood changes
1krad: typical radiation tolerance of ordinary microchips
1Mrad:typical tolerance of radiation-hardened microchips
The gray (symbol: Gy) is the SI derived unit of radiation absorbed dose (same as Rad).
I Gy = 100 Rad = 0.1 Krad
The curie (symbol Ci) is a unit of radioactivity, named after Marie and Pierre Curie.

Orbital Inclination

Inclination for an orbit around Earth is the angle between the orbital plane and the equatorial
plane.




Orbit of Mars around sun has an inclination of 1. 85 degrees with respect to the Earth's Orbital
plane around sun (ecliptic plane).When the spacecraft is escaping tangential to Earth's orbit
around sun, inclination of this departure trajectory is an important factor to be considered, to
precisely target the insertion in to Martian Sphere of Influence. Hence, inclination of departure
trajectory and inclination of earth bound orbits are important elements considered in the
trajectory design




Equatorial plane is 23.4 tilted with respect to ecliptic, Mars' axial tilt is 25.19, and orbit
of Mars around Sun is 1.85 tilted with respect to ecliptic plane.
PSLV has injected the spacecraft to an orbit with an inclination of 19.2 with respect to
equatorial plane. Now, when we plan Tran-Mars Injection Manouever, in to an orbit
around Mars with an inclination of 150, to optimize the fuel consumption and to limit
the out of plane manouevers to the least amount required, geometry of all the above
inclinations, are accounted in the calculations.
Ascending Node and Descending Node




Orbital nodes for an orbit around Earth are the two points where the orbit intersects the
equatorial plane.

The node from which the satellite ascends northwards in the orbital plane is called the ascending
node whereas the node from which the satellite descends southwards is called the descending
node. The line joining the ascending and descending nodes is called Line of nodes.

Attitude In space
When space scientists talk about attitude in technical context, they mean the way the
spacecraft is oriented in 3-dimensional space. Attitude = pitch, yaw and roll.

Orbital Eccentricity

The Eccentricity of an orbit is a numerical representation of the shape of the orbit. Eccentricity is
an indication of the extent of deviation of an orbit with respect to a perfect geometric circle.

Eccentricity of a perfectly circular orbit is zero. Eccentricity of an elliptical orbit varies between
zero and one. Eccentricity of a parabolic escape orbit is exactly equal to one and that of a
hyperbolic orbit is greater than one













Semi-major
axis

The semi-major
axis of an orbit
represents the
size of the
orbit. Semi-
major axis is
the distance
measured from the centre of the ellipse to either the Periapsis or the Apoapsis.

The nearest and farthest points in the orbital plane of any satellite around a celestial body, from
the centre of the celestial body, are defined as Periapsis and Apoapsis respectively.

The Eccentricity and Semi-major axis can together uniquely establish the shape and size of a
given orbit.



EBN = Earth Burn
Name :Anmol Singh
List of reference
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/bsf4-1.php
http://www.braeunig.us/space/propel.htm
ISRO official Facebook Page (Updated about MOM)
cornell.edu
nasa.gov
http://isro.gov.in/
Wikipedia (Sorry for breaking the rule But could not avoid) & crosschecked with different sources too.