NEW DELHI: India’s Mars Orbiter Mission on Wednesday successfully entered orbit around the Red Planet on its first attempt, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced.
“India has successfully reached Mars. Congratulations to all, to the entire country… history has been created today,” Modi said from the Indian Space Research Organisation’s mission control in south India from where the mission was televised live nationwide.he success of the mission— named Mangalyaan (Mars-craft) — after its 10-month journey was touted by Modi as a showcase for the country’s home-grown and low-cost space technology.
“I have said it in the past too, the amount our scientists have spent on this mission is even less than what they spend in making Hollywood movies,” he said in his televised addressed to the mission scientists.
At just $74 million, the mission is less than the estimated $100 million budget of the sci-fi blockbuster Gravity.
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India’s successful mission to the Red Planet sees it join an elite club that includes United States, Russia and Europe.
The mission plans to study the planet’s surface and scan its atmosphere for methane, which could provide evidence of some sort of life form.
The probe is expected to circle Mars for six months, about 500 kilometres (310 miles) from its surface. Its scientific instruments will collect data and send it back to Earth.
“We have prevailed, not everyone gets success in their missions… we got it in our very first attempt. ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) put out this spacecraft in a record time of only three years, every Indian is proud of you,” Modi said.
