India’s Mars probe, the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), has ceased to function over eight years after its launch on 5 November 2013, according to recent reports. It is also over seven years since its post-launch design life, of 1.5 years, expired. Communications were lost with the spacecraft during its automatic manoeuvre from an attitude taken for its long eclipse period, which began in April.
The manoeuvre was made so that its antenna was correctly pointed and that its solar arrays could fully charge the spacecraft’s battery. During the exercise it appears that the spacecraft ran out of battery power or propellant, making it irrecoverable. Alternatively, the antenna may have been left in the wrong orientation for communications back to Earth.
Artist’s impress of Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) Courtesy: ISRO via Wikipedia
