November 5, 2018 - New Eyes over Mars

New Eyes over Mars  The India Space Research Organization launched its first interplanetary mission five years ago this week. The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also known as Mangalyaan, was launched by India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle and took 298 days to travel to the Red Planet. ISRO is the fourth space agency to reach Mars (after the Soviet space program, NASA, and the European Space Agency). MOM is a demonstrator project to develop the technologies for designing, planning, managing, and operating an interplanetary mission. It also carries five instruments that are advancing knowledge about Mars in support of its secondary scientific objective. Seen in this MOM image, Phobos, one of the two natural satellites of Mars, is silhouetted against the Martian surface.

Image credit: ISRO

Weekly Calendar

November 5 - 11, 2018

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

 

Monday 5

Venus 10° south of Moon

2013: Mars Orbiter Mission launched, India's first interplanetary mission

Tuesday 6

Election Day

Mercury at greatest elongation (23° E)

1572: Tycho Brahe records bright new star (supernova SN 1572) in Cassiopeia
1966: Lunar Orbiter II launched

Wednesday 7

New Moon 11:02 AM ET

1963: First flight test of Apollo Launch Escape System
1967: Surveyor 6 launched
1996: Mars Global Surveyor launched
2013: Soyuz TMA-11M launched carrying ISS Expedition 38/39 crew

Thursday 8

1656: Edmund Halley born
1984: STS-51A Discovery launched
1995: STS-74 Atlantis launched
2005: ESA’s Venus Express launched

Friday 9

Mercury 1.8° north of Antares
Mercury 7° south of Moon

1934: Carl Sagan born
1967: Surveyor 6 lands on Moon
1967: Apollo 4 launched, first Saturn V launch

Saturday 10

1970: Luna 17 launched

Sunday 11

Remembrance Day (Canada)
Veteran’s Day

Saturn 1.5° south of Moon

1875: Vesto Slipher born
1966: Gemini XII launched
1982: STS-5 Columbia launched