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Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here this evening on a two-day visit to the state. This is his first visit to Karnataka after becoming Prime Minister.
Modi will witness the culmination of Mars Mission on Wednesday early morning. He will be present at Indian Space Research Organisation's Mars Mission Control Centre in the space agency’s telemetry, tracking and command network (Istrac) for the historic event, as he is the head of the department of space.
India's first inter-planetary spacecraft is set to enter the Martian orbit at 7.17 am. On Monday, India created history by becoming the first Asian country to enter the gravity or sphere of its influence.
Later, Modi will arrive at the Siddaganga Mutt in Tumkur to meet the seer of the mutt. Thereafter, he will proceed to the industrial estate to inaugurate India's biggest food park, set up by the Future Group.
The final operation of Mars Mission will begin at 4:17 am with the spacecraft (Orbiter) switching over to the medium gain antenna for receiving and emitting radio signals. After rotating the Orbiter towards Mars at 6:57 am, the main engine will be fired 24 minutes from 7:17 am to 7:41 am to enter the Martian orbit, which will be about 500 km from its surface and 215 million km away from the earth in radio distance.
The spacecraft will consume about 250 kg of liquid fuel with oxidizer in the due course.
The Rs 450-crore ($70 million) ambitious Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) was launched on November 5, 2013 on board a polar rocket from Sriharikota spaceport off the Bay of Bengal, about 80 km northeast of Chennai.
The Indian Space Research Organisation is the fourth international space agency after National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the US, Russian Federal Space Agency (RFSA) and European Space Agency to undertake a mission to Mars.
Chief minister Siddaramaiah, leader of the opposition in the state assembly Jagadish Shettar and leader of the opposition in the state legislative council K S Eshwarappa, Bangalore city mayor Shanthakumari and several other state government officials received Modi at the HAL airport. Later, Modi addressed BJP workers.
