Indias first mission to Mars blasted off successfully on Tuesday, completing the first stage of an 11-month journey that could see the countrys low-cost programme win Asias race to the Red Planet. Here are 10 key facts about the mission: • Mangalyaan’s Tuesday launch coincides with Mangalvaar, the day of Mars, called Mangala in Indian astronomy. • The 1,350-kg orbiter weighs much less than an average sports utility vehicle. ISROs launch vehicle carrying the Mars Orbiter probe, moments after lift-off, in Sriharikota. (Nathan G/HT Photo) • At Rs. 450 crore ($73 million) India’s mission is the cheapest — Nasa’s MAVEN (launch: November 18) costs nine times as much ($679 million i.e. Rs. 4,188 crore); Mars Rover cost $400 million; Curiosity, $2.5 billion. • Mangalyaan was completed in one- and-a-half years; Nasa took five years for MAVEN. • In Isro’s 44-year history, this is its first-ever launch outside the Earth’s sphere of influence. • Programme director Mylswamy Annadurai, project director S Arunan, and Isro Satellite Centre director SK Shivkumar oversaw design, development of orbiter. • A day before the mission, Isro chief K Radhakrishnan placed a scale model of the launch vehicle, the PSLV-C25, at Lord Vishnu’s feet in Tirumala. • Mangalyaan will search for methane (marsh gas), the main component in natural gas and a possible indicator of life. • Other objectives are atmospheric and particle environment studies and surface imaging. • The probe is expected to arrive in Mars orbit in September 2014, approximately at the same time as MAVEN.
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 16:33:20 +0000
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