India pulled off what can best be described as a triumph of frugal engineering when its scientists

successfully placed the Mangalyaan satellite in the orbit around Mars on Wednesday morning
(local time), propelling the country into a select club of interplanetary exploring nations. India is
the only country to succeed on its maiden attempt.
Scientists at the space agency, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), exulted as the
spacecrafts engines completed 24 minutes of burn and slipped into its designated orbit around
the planet.
We have gone beyond the boundaries of human enterprise and innovation, prime minister
Narendra Modi said as he congratulated the scientists after witnessing the maneuver at the
spacecrafts command center at ISROs Bangalore headquarters. We have dared to reach into
the unknown, he said. Modi asked Indians to celebrate the scientists.
The 3,000 pound Mars satellite cost $75 million and 18 months to build. It is only the fourth
mission to enter the Martian orbit, following probes from the United States, Russia and the
European space agency.
The mission could be a turning point as India can now market its status as a low-cost base for
sophisticated engineering. ISRO is already launching commercial satellites for a host of Western
countries at competitive costs. The success of the mission could also quash criticism that a poor
country should not have spent $75 million on a mission whose outcome is uncertain at a time
when millions of Indians are starving.
Mangalyaan is equipped with a bipropellant Main Propulsion System and an Attitude Control System. The
Propulsion System features two spherical propellant tanks each holding 390 liters of propellant. Mangalyaan
uses Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine as fuel and Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen [MON-3: Nitrogen Tetroxide with
3% Nitric Oxide] as oxidizer that is fed to the engines via propellant lines and latch valves as pressure regulators.
Tank pressurization is accomplished with high-pressure Helium. The He is stored in tanks at a pressure of
23.5Mpa that is regulated down to under 2MPa for tank pressurization.

The Main Propulsion System is centered around the Liquid Apogee Motor which has become the Indian
workhorse on Geostationary Satellites and its previous Moon probe. LAM has demonstrated its capabilities in
space many times, but for Mangalyaan, it has to be ensured that the engine can still fire after a 300-day coast to
Mars for the orbit insertion maneuver which is required for mission success.

LAM provides 440 Newtons of thrust which equates to 44.87 Kilograms. The engine operates and an mixture
ratio (O/F) of 1.65 and has a nozzle ratio of 160 providing a specific impulse of 3,041N*sec/kg. The engines
injector is a co-axial swirl element made of titanium while the thrust chamber is constructed of Columbium alloy
that is radiatively cooled. Electron welding technique is used to mate the injector to the combustion chamber.