Post date: Nov 05, 2013 2:48:41 PM
Chief of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), K. Radhakrishnan, lauds his team of scientists for successfully launching the 'new' and 'complex' Mars mission.
SRIHARIKOTA, ANDHRA PRADESH, INDIA (NOVEMBER 05, 2013) (DDI) - Chief of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), K. Radhakrishnan, lauded his team of scientists for successfully launching the 'new' and 'complex' Mars mission from the southeastern coast on Tuesday (November 05).
India successfully launched its first rocket to Mars, aiming to put a satellite in orbit around the red planet at a lower cost than previous missions and potentially positioning the emerging Asian nation as a budget player in the global space race.
The Mars Orbiter Mission blasted off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India's Sriharikota with the satellite scheduled to start orbiting Mars by September, searching for methane and signs of minerals.
An ecstatic Radhakrishnan said that he owe a lot of the achievement to the scientists who worked hard to achieve their target.
"It has been a new and complex mission design to ensure that, you know the… to move the Mars orbiter spacecraft from the orbit of earth to the orbit of Mars with minimum energy. I want to salute the entire ISRO community who made this possible in a very limited time," he said.
Only the United States, Europe, and Russia have sent probes that have orbited or landed on Mars. Probes to Mars have a high failure rate and a success will be a boost for national pride, especially after a similar mission by China failed to leave Earth's orbit in 2011.
India's ties with its neighbour are marked as much by competition as cooperation. Government scientists deny any space race, but analysts say India has stepped up its programme because of concerns about China'scivilian and military space technology.
The probe's 4.5 billion rupee price tag is a fraction of the cost of NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission, also due to launch in November. Analysts say India could capture more of the $304 billion global space market with its low-cost technology.
Meanwhile, India's Junior Minister at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), V. Narayansamy said the moment was joyous for everyone associated with the mission.
"We all worked as a team and it is a joyous moment for all of us. The world was expecting that what is going to happen, will India succeed? We have proved it; the scientists have proved it! I wholeheartedly congratulate all the scientists for the successful Mars mission," said Narayansamy.
The Mars mission is considerably cheaper than some of India's more lavish spending schemes, including a $340 million plan to build the world's largest statue in the state of Gujarat, including surrounding infrastructure.
Even so, it has drawn criticism in a country suffering from high levels of poverty, malnutrition and power shortages and experiencing its worst slowdown in growth in ten years.
India's space programme began 50 years ago and developed rapidly after Western powers imposed sanctions in response to a nuclear weapons test in 1974, spurring scientists to build advanced rocket technology. Five years ago, its Chandrayaan probe landed on the moon and found evidence of water.
The relative prowess in space contrasts with poor results developing fighter jets by India's state-run companies.
The Mars Orbiter Mission plans to search for methane in the Martian atmosphere, the chemical strongly tied to life on Earth. Recent measurements made by NASA's rover, Curiosity, show only trace amounts of it on Mars.
India's mission will also study Martian surface features and mineral composition.