India’s Rendezvous With Mars On September 24

By Author: Srishti
Total Articles: 52
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A few selected countries like the USA, Russia, China and Japan have tried to solve this mystery. But so far, no one has found any evidence of life on the Martian planet. India kick started its maiden Mars Orbiter Mission on November 5, last year, for finding methane, a life supporting chemical on the red planet.

Indian mission is low budgeted with total amount spent on the programme being Rs 450 crore. But still, questions are being raised about the viability of such missions for a poor country like India. The critics argue that in a country like India, where one in three children is malnourished and 300 million people are without access to electricity, such expenditure is a wastage.

India, which has a superpower ambition certainly cannot overlook the progress in the space exploration. There is an international effort to colonize the Mars in another 20-30 years. Indians cannot miss the chance to become the pioneer settlers on the red planet. Our national pride certainly does not allow us to piggy ride on other countries for taking help in settling Indians on the Martian planet.

Apart from the future prospect ...
... the maneuver will lead to technology experience gained, which will be of great help in the earth benefiting missions.

Nevertheless, it will fire the imagination of the young minds, who will like to make a career in the space research. In the aftermath of Chandrayaan mission, the ISRO was flooded with applications for jobs. Certainly, MOM will also ignite the young minds similarly.

Also, the space mission should be looked in all its totality. The ISRO has been at the forefront of making breakthroughs in the field of communication, television broadcasting and meteorological services, and Indian Remote Sensing Satellites. Every step that ISRO takes is a milestone.

The mission to Mars will raise the stature of India in the international arena as such feat has been achieved by only four agencies before.

The technology used for the Mangalyaan mission is completely indigenous, which will certainly raise the confidence level of the scientists and they may find it easier to get nod for future ambitious project.

The Mars mission is the investment for the future and there should be follow on missions as well to reap the benefit of the space programme.

According to experts, the biggest challenge of the mission is that rocket engines have been idle for 300 days. But, it may not hamper the mission as ISRO has used the engine for many of its missions. The commands will have to be precisely timed to make the spacecraft entry into Mars’ orbit smooth. The other major task will include restarting the liquid apogee motor powering the spacecraft.

The mission will test India’s ability to insert a spacecraft into an orbit around Mars.

Mars’ mission is certainly not directed against satiating the national pride unlike the Chinese who are taking missions to put the country into the same league as developed nations.

Our mission is a result of the hard work of our scientists over a long period of time which should be respected. The unnecessary controversy regarding the expenditure should be avoided as long as our missions are low budgeted.

To get more updates, visit India and Mars expedition- ISRO