After launching a successful test run on Monday, India scientists are ready to dispatch its first spacecraft to Mars later on this week.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully reignited the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft's main engine for four seconds in a trial run at 2:30 p.m. local time on Monday.

Although the test-firing only lasted for four seconds, scientists had to wait for over 12 minutes to confirm the results because of the time lag in sending the radio signals from the spacecraft 220 million km back to earth. 

MOM is now scheduled to gather information from the Red Planet's orbit on Wednesday.

"Test firing successful. We had a perfect burn for four seconds as programmed. The trajectory has been corrected. MOM will now go ahead with the nominal plan for the Mars orbit insertion," wrote MOM on Facebook a few seconds after the results from test-firing came in.

According to ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan, the brief test was executed to ensure that the engine will be able to function for the 24-minute maneuver on Wednesday.

"There was a minimum time of firing necessary and four seconds are good enough to get at least three or four good points to know that the fluid flow is proper and also to measure the acceleration imparted correctly," he said, explaining the reason for a the test burn, reported The Planetary Society.

"We are obviously relieved," an ISRO scientist said, according to the Times of India. "Now we know that the engine is fit for Wednesday's exercise."

It's been almost 300 days since the 440-Newtown liquid apogee motor (LAM) engine was last used. The spacecraft has not left our planet's orbit on a Martian trajectory since Dec. 1, 2013.

If it fails to operate properly on Wednesday, then scientists plan to resort to plan B, which is to fire the eight thrusters of the spacecraft to capture the Martian orbit.