Goodbye Mangalyaan: Netizens bid adieu to Mars orbiter

It's officially the end of the Mangalyaan mission as ISRO has confirmed that the the Mars Orbiter craft lost communication with ground station and is non-recoverable.

The craft ran out of propellant and its battery drained beyond the safe limit after remaining in orbit around the red planet for about eight years.

The Rs 450 crore Mars Orbiter Mission was launched on November 5, 2013, and after a long journey the MOM spacecraft was successfully inserted into Martian orbit on September 24, 2014.


"It was declared that the spacecraft is non-recoverable, and attained its end-of-life", a statement by the Indian Space Research Organisation said.

Despite being designed for a life-span of six months as a technology demonstrator, the Orbiter lived for about eight years in the Martian orbit

ISRO said the Mangalyaan mission would be regarded as a remarkable technological and scientific feat.

Netizens paid rich tributes to the mission which put India on the list of countries with interplanetary missions. "Mangalyaan, A Mission that bought us a huge respect, glory , attention and will power to get far ahead in space research comes to an end after 8 years. HATS OFF #ISRO," wrote a user.

"ISRO's Mars Mission! Your association lasted 8 years, 8 days, you made #India proud to be the first Asian country to reach #MarsOrbiter in its first attempt. Your journey was a very proud moment for all #Indians.
Salute to all Indian Space Research Organization," wrote another.

Others shared some of the beautiful pictures from out neighbouring planet which Mangalyaan had sent.

Mangalyaan gave ISRO a gamut of significant scientific results on Mars as well as on the Solar corona, before it lost communication with the ground station.

The loss of contact happened as a result of a long eclipse in April 2022, the national space agency said.

Because the propellant was drained the "desired altitude pointing" could not be achieved for sustained power generation.