See other posts from October 2013

Photos: India's Mars Orbiter Mission arrives at launch site

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla

2013/10/05 02:39 CDT

Topics: Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), mission status

How do you ship a spacecraft in India? By Tata truck, of course. I have been honked at a lot by these trucks while traveling here and there on vacation to visit my husband's family in India and Sri Lanka. I would really like to know how much honking this truck did while bearing its precious cargo along the 400-kilometer journey from Bangalore to Sriharikota this week! These images were posted to the Indian Space Research Organisation website; thanks to Pradeep Mohandas for the pointer to them.

I'm very happy to see that the spacecraft has arrived safely, and I look forward to its launch on October 28 at 16:14:45 Indian standard time (3:44:45 PDT / 10:44:45 UTC).

By the way, a report appeared in Indian media this week that the US government shutdown might cause a delay in India's Mars mission, but those reports appeared to have been the uninformed worrying of a single writer, and were quickly denied by ISRO: "India's October 28 Mars mission on schedule: ISRO"

Spacecraft being Flagged Off by Director ISAC from ISITE ISAC Bangalore

Spacecraft leaving for SHAR Sriharikota from ISITE ISAC Bangalore

Spacecraft being received at SDSC SHAR Sriharikota

Spacecraft being unloaded at Clean Room at SDSC SHAR Sriharikota

Spacecraft at Cleanroom at SDSC SHAR Sriharikota

Here's more images, taken during spacecraft development.

All images credit ISRO.