[meteorite-list] India's Mars Probe (MOM) Completes First Engine Burn

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/pslv/c25/status.html

By Stephen Clark
Spaceflight Now

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2013
India's Mars-bound spacecraft has completed the first of six major engine 
firings to break free of Earth's gravitational influence, according to 
a post on the mission's Facebook page.

The burn at 1947 GMT (2:47 p.m. EDT) raised the apogee, or high point, 
of the probe's orbit around Earth. Controllers planned to fire the craft's 
liquid-fueled engine for more than 3 minutes to raise its orbit by about 
2,560 miles to an apogee of 17,861 miles, the Indian news website First 
Post reported.

Five more orbit-raising maneuvers are planned, with the final burn Nov. 
30 programmed to send the probe out of Earth orbit and on an interplanetary 
cruise to Mars, ISRO officials said.