Nellore: Isro has re-established the communication link with Mangalyaan, the Mars Orbiter mission, following a 15-day blackout caused by the red planet going behind the sun.
This celestial geometry, known as a Mars solar conjunction, makes radio communications between the two planets tricky.
“It was one of the hurdles we managed to overcome. Now, we are back on track to send commands to the satellite. The long gap led to economy in power use, and we expect that this will contribute to the longevity of the orbiter,” ISRO chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar said, after the successful launch of the PSLV rocket late on Friday night.
He said Isro has been mulling several options with respect to next planetary mission. The options are another Mangalyaan mission or send a spacecraft to Venus or the asteroids but a decision is yet to be taken, he noted.
He said Isro intends to launch three more navigational satellites before March next year. Mr V.S. Hegde, chief of Anthix Corporation, the commercial arm of Isro, said 28 international customers from six countries are awaiting launch of their satellites by Isro.
