The Mars Orbiter Mission of India is currently on track and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has made an announcement that the second Trajectory Correction Manoeuvre (TCM-2) has been successfully performed. According to Mars Mission update by the ISRO, the maneuver was carried out successfully on June 11 at 16:30 hours. The trajectory correction manoeuvres are performed to make sure that the satellites reach their target destination.

This was done to keep the Mars orbiter Mangalyaan on its course for its contact with Mars on September 24, 2014.

According to officials at ISRO, the course correction which was done in 16 seconds on the spacecraft was originally scheduled to take place in April. It was postponed since the trajectory correction was not required at the time.

Currently, the Mars Orbiter is at a distance of approximately 102 million kilometres and a radio signal fired from the base station takes a little over 340 seconds to reach to it. The total journey of the spacecraft is over 466 million kilometres, while the entire journey will be of about 680 million kilometres.

The TCM-2 was done by firing 22 Newton thrusters for about 16 seconds. ISRO continues to monitor the spacecraft through its 'Indian Deep Space Network' or IDSN. ISRO has also confirmed that the satellite and all the five
payloads that it is carrying are in good health.

Another trajectory correction manoeuvre has been planned for the month of August before the space agency performs the Mars Orbit Insertion in September. The Mars mission which was launched from Sriharikota on November 5, 2013 with an aim to reach the atmosphere of Mars by September 24 this year has already crossed the half-way mark on April 9. The Rs 450-crore project is expected to provide the scientists with better opportunities in planetary research.