A good day for India's space mission, as the four-second test firing to wake up the main liquid engine on the Mars Orbiter Mission has proved to be succesful, thus raising hopes for a similar success for the final engine firing on 24 September, that will last for about 24 minutes before the Mars Orbit Insertion.
2 45 pm: The test-fire of the main liquid engine of the Mars Orbiter Mission has proved to be successful, scientists at ISRO said, according to reports.
2 30 pm: The test-firing has been done. It will be a wait of more than 12 minutes for the scientists at ISRO to know if it has been successful.
2 29 pm: The crucial firing up of the engine to begin. The first step of the final manouevre, that of enabling the propellant, has been succesful.
2 pm: Just half-an-hour to go before scientists fire up the main liquid engine of the Mars Orbiter Mission, which will last for only four seconds.
There is, of course, a Plan B in case the four-second trial of the liquid engine fails, and that is the firing of eight thrusters to help put Mangalyaan in the orbit.
It is wake-up time for Mangalyaan on Monday, which is about to complete its 300-day journey to Mars, as scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation will fire up the main liquid engine that has been dormant for most of the journey, just two days before the spacecraft will be put in the Red Planet's orbit.
According to a post by ISRO, the Mars Orbiter Mission has already entered the Gravitational Sphere of Influence of Mars, at a radius of 5.8 lakh km.
