The first of the six orbit raisings of Mangalyaan would be carried out in the early hours of Thursday. The maneuver would be conduted by Isro scientists sitting at a satellite tracking and telemetry centre in Bangalore at around 1.15 am. The orbit of the spacecraft,launched at 2.38 pm Tuesday and placed in a 246.9 km-by-23,566 km Earth parking orbit,would be raised to a height of 28,790 km,Isro officials said. The six orbit raisings are to lift the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) to a height of 2 lakh km and to provide it the velocity to escape the Earth orbit. The orbiter will acquire the required escape velocity to leave the Earth by gradually firing its 440N liquid engine five times during its one month around the Earth. In the sixth firing,it escapes the gravity of the Earth. Then,MOM starts its elliptical journey around the Sun,which is designed for it to have a rendezvous with Mars in September 2014, he said.
