Magalyaan, India’s first inter-planetary mission, reached an orbit around Mars on 24th September 2014. Also called Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), it made India, the fourth space agency to reach Mars, after the Soviet space program, NASA, and the European Space Agency. It also made India, the first nation to reach Mars orbit on its first attempt, and the first Asian nation to do so. And here is a book, under the same title, in Malayalam written by Dr. George Varghese, which details its story.
As per the author, who is the Director, KSCSTE (Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment), Mangalyaan has two objectives: Primary and Secondary. The primary objective was to develop the technologies required to perform deep-space communication, navigation, Mars orbit insertion and on-orbit phase around the Mars. The secondary objective is to explore Mars' surface features, morphology, mineralogy and Martian atmosphere using instruments which were built indigenously.
The book narrates the history of the Mangalyaan mission right from its beginning. The Mars Orbiter Mission mission concept began with a feasibility study in 2010, after the launch of lunar satellite Chandrayaan-1 in 2008. The government of India approved the project on 3 August 2012,after the Indian Space Research Organisation completed INR125 crore of required studies for the orbiter.The total project cost may be up to INR454 crore.
The book entitled Mangalyaan was released on the very day Mangalyaan was and it also became history in the field of Book publishing industry, something which DC Books, the foremost publishing company in Kerala can be proud of. The book includes a final chapter which describes the prospects of Mars research which evidently puts theauthor's insight in that field.
Dr. George Varghese was the former professor and Head, Department of Physics, University of Calicut. He has served as Director of Research, Calicut University, Chairman, Board of Studies at the Mahatma Gandhi and Calicut universities and member of various committees of the University Grants Commission. Apart from his 32 years of teaching experience, he has published a number of research papers in international journals.
To buy the book: http://onlinestore.dcbooks.com
(The cover of the book has been altered to show the author's photo. Courtesy to facts mentioned: http://www.wikipedia.org )
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