On 24 September 2014, India joined the exclusive club of nations with a presence on a planet other than the Earth. The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) first interplanetary attempt – Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also called Mangalyaan made it possible!
Built in a record time of just 15 months, Mangalyaan was launched on 5 November 2013 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota Range (SHAR), Andhra Pradesh. The rocket used for lift-off was a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The total project expense came only to around Rs.450 crores, a fraction of what it cost other nations to deploy a Mars orbiter, making Mangalyaan the least-expensive mission to Mars!
The success of Mangalyaan gave us a lot more “firsts” – it made India the first country in Asia with a presence on Mars, and the first nation in the world to succeed in a Mars mission at the very first attempt. Also, ISRO is the fourth space agency to reach Mars after the Soviet Union (present-day Russia), the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the European Space Agency (ESA).
Picture Credit : Google
