India is aiming to follow the Soviet Union, United States and Europe in having a successful visit to Mars. Mangalyaan, which means "Mars craft" in Hindi, must travel 780 million kilometres over 300 days to reach an orbit around the red planet next September. Hundreds of people watched the rocket carrying the Mars spacecraft take off from the east-coast island of Shriharikota and streak across the sky. The total cost of the project is 450 crores, one sixth of the cost of a Mars probe set to be launched by NASA in 13 days.
Mission Facts:
- The 1,337 kg Mars Orbiter Satellite will be put into a 250 km X 23,500 km elliptical orbit.
- The launch vehicle being used is a PSLV-C25.
- This is the 25th mission of PSLV and fifth in the XL configuration.
- Time from launch to injection of the Orbiter into its trajectory is about 40 minutes.
- The cost of the mission is approximately Rs. 450 crore.
- With this mission, India will be the first Asian country and the fourth in the world to take part in interplanetary exploration.
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