WASHINGTON: ISRO's Mars Mission team has won
the prestigious 2015 Space Pioneer Award in the science and engineering
category in recognition of achieving the rare feat in its very first attempt.
The prestigious award given by the National
Space Society would be presented to the ISRO's Mars Orbiter Programme Team
during the National Space Society's 2015 International Space Development
Conference to be held in Toronto from May 20-24.
The mission was launched on November 5, 2013 and
went into Mars orbit on September 24, 2014.
In a statement, the Society said, this mission
has achieved two significant mission firsts. One an Indian spacecraft has gone
into orbit around Mars on the very first try (on Sept 24, 2014), which no other
country has ever done this.
Secondly, the spacecraft is in an elliptical
orbit with a high apoapsis (point at which an orbiting object is farthest away
from the body it is orbiting), and has a high resolution camera which is taking
full-disk color imagery of Mars.
"Very few full disk images have ever been
taken in the past, mostly on approach to the planet, as most imaging is done
looking straight down in mapping mode. These images will aid planetary
scientists," the statement said.
The Mars Orbiter programme team located in
Bangalore is headed by Dr Mylswamy Annadurai.
The Space Pioneer Award consists of a silvery
pewter Moon globe cast by the Baker Art Foundry in Placerville, California, from
a sculpture originally created by Don Davis, the well-known space and
astronomical artist.
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