India's Odyssey To Red Planet Blasts Offs: 12 Key Facts About It

6. Two sea-borne terminals equipped with a 4.6 metre antenna and a 1.8 metre antenna on board Shipping Corporation of India's SCI Nalanda and SCI Yamuna (some 2500 km between them) in South Pacific Ocean will track the vehicle as it injects the Mars Orbiter mission into Earth's orbit.

7. Once injected into orbit by the launch vehicle, the spacecraft trajectory post separation would be tracked from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory facilities at Goldstone (U.S), Madrid (Spain) and Canberra (Australia).

8. The Mars Orbiter carries five scientific instruments to study the red planet - Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP), Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM), Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA), Mars Colour Camera (MCC) and Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS).

9. While LAP and MSM would help in atmospheric studies,MENCA would focus on studying particle environment.MCC and TIS would contribute to studying the surface imaging of the red planet.

10. After having received 33 ideas for instruments to be flown to Mars, Isro shortlisted nine, of which the Advisory Committee of Space Sciences headed by Prof U R Rao finalised five instruments as only these were mature enough for the flight.

11. The 1,337 kg Mars Orbiter with 852 kg fuel and 15 kg of scientific instruments is expected to reach Mars' orbit on September 14, 2014.

12. Though there have been 51 missions to the red planet by some countries, only 21 have been considered successful, according to Nasa.

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