Built on ISRO's flight-proven I-1K (IRS/INSAT-class) satellite bus, the Mangalyaan orbiter was compact, power-efficient and engineered to survive the long cruise to Mars and its harsh orbital environment.
| Full name | Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) — "Mangalyaan" |
|---|---|
| Operator | Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) |
| Spacecraft bus | Modified I-1K (I-1000) |
| Launch mass | ≈ 1,337–1,340 kg (including ~852 kg of propellant) |
| Dry mass | ≈ 500 kg |
| Science payload mass | ≈ 15 kg (five instruments) |
| Power | Three solar panels generating ~840 W, with a 36 Ah Li-ion battery |
| Main engine | 440 N liquid apogee motor (used for Trans-Mars Injection & orbit insertion) |
| Launch vehicle | PSLV-C25 (XL configuration) |
| Launch site | Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, India |
Mangalyaan settled into a highly elliptical orbit — swooping close to Mars, then sweeping far out into space.
About 420 km above the Martian surface at its nearest point.
About 80,000 km at its farthest — a wide orbit that let its camera image the full disk of Mars.
High-gain antenna linked to ISRO's Deep Space Network at Byalalu, near Bengaluru, across hundreds of millions of km.
Onboard intelligence handled faults during the ~20-minute radio blackout when the craft passed behind Mars.
A slingshot trajectory used Earth's gravity to save fuel — key to the mission's famously low cost.