India's mission to Mars has overcome
a technical problem and appears to be back on track, the country's space
research agency says.
The problem occurred on Monday when a planned engine burn failed to raise the
spacecraft's orbit around Earth by the intended amount.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has now pushed the spacecraft
to a higher velocity as planned.
Isro officials said its final orbit "will be known in a few hours".
The problem occurred during a manoeuvre designed to boost the craft's maximum
distance from 71,623km to 100,000km.
A problem with the liquid fuel thruster caused the 1,350kg vehicle to fall
short of the mark.
As a solution, the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) - known informally as
Mangalyaan, or Mars-craft - executed an additional thruster firing to make up
for the shortfall early on Tuesday.
Speaking to Pallava Bagla, science editor at Indian broadcasting network
NDTV, Isro's chairman K Radhakrishnan said: "All is well and operations
completed as planned. The final orbit of the spacecraft will be known in a few
hours."
Mr Bagla told BBC News that the "spacecraft has been put on required velocity
and seems to be on track".
Instead of flying directly to Mars, the $72m (£45m) probe is scheduled to
orbit Earth until the end of the month, building up the necessary velocity to
break free from our planet's gravitational pull.
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