Twitter exchanges between ISRO, NASA on Mars mission

BANGALORE: ISRO reached out to lakhs of social media users by giving a blow by blow account of the successful historic Mars Orbit Insertion today, even as it launched the MOM's official Twitter handle, @MarsOrbiter.

Twitter exchanges between US Space agency NASA and ISRO on the Mars mission also formed a major highlight.

NASA whose MAVEN mission reached the Martian orbit only two days ago, congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on its historic feat.

"@NASA: We congratulate @ISRO for its Mars arrival! @MarsOrbiter joins the missions studying the Red Planet. #JourneyToMars," NASA tweeted.

MAVEN team has also separately congratulated ISRO, as India scripted history becoming the first country to succeed in reaching the red planet in the maiden attempt.

It said- "#MAVEN team congratulates @ISRO for its #Mars arrival! @MarsOrbiter joins the missions studying the Red Planet. "Thank you MAVEN team!," ISRO tweeted its acknowledgment of the message.

ISRO also launched the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM)'s official Twitter handle, @MarsOrbiter.

"What is red, is a planet and is the focus of my orbit?" tweeted the official handle of ISRO's Mars Orbiter. "I'll be back after breakfast. Good ol' sunlight. It's good for your battery," read the handle's second tweet.

With today's success, ISRO became the fourth space agency to send a spacecraft to the Red Planet and it did so in the first shot. European, US and Russian probes have managed to orbit or land on the planet, but after several attempts.

ISRO has been active on the social media since the initial days of Mars Orbiter Mission by regularly updating its followers about the crucial processes, events and milestones relating to the mission.

The agency today posted on the chain of events leading to Mars Orbit Insertion almost on a real-time basis as the scientists received the communication from the satellite along with the crisp account on the process involved.

It started updating about the operation early in the morning on changing over to medium gain antenna at about 4:17am, followed by forward rotation of the spacecraft, start of eclipse, blocking of the radio link between the spacecraft and earth by Mars, burn start of Main Liquid Engine, and finally successful entry of spacecraft into the Martian orbit.

ISRO also confirmed about the chain of events after receiving communication on the same from the spacecraft which was delayed by 12.5 minutes.

Regular and prompt updating of necessary information by the space agency on its social media site has garnered praise from cross-section of followers and likers of ISRO.

The space research organisation has three active official social media pages, two on facebook with lakhs of likers and a twitter account with over 50,000 followers.