Liftoff! India's First Mars Probe Launches Toward the Red Planet Liftoff! India's First Mars Probe Launches Toward the Red Planet By Miriam Kramer, Staff Writer | November 5, 2013 05:00am ET MORE India's first mission to Mars, the Mars Orbiter Mission, launches the Mangalyaan orbiter toward the Red Planet atop a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on Nov. 5, 2013 from the Indian Space Research Organisation's Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Credit: Indian Space Research Organisation India's first-ever mission to Mars launched into space today (Nov. 5), beginning the country's first interplanetary mission to explore the solar system. With a thunderous roar, India's Mars Orbiter Mission rocketed into space at 4:08 a.m. EST (0908 GMT) from the Indian Space Research Organisation's Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, where the local time will be 2:38 p.m. in the afternoon. An ISRO Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle launched the probe on its 300-day trek into orbit around the Red Planet.

A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle launches India's first mission to Mars, the Mars Orbiter Mission, from the the Indian Space Research Organisation's Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on Nov. 5, 2013. Credit: ISRO "The journey has only just begun," said ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan after the successful launch. [ India's First Mars Mission (Photos) ] Less than an hour after liftoff, Radhakrishnan reported that India's Mars probe successfully entered a staging orbit around Earth. Mars Orbiter Mission director Kunhi Krishnan describing the launch as a start to a "grand and glorious" mission. If all goes well, India's first Mars orbiter — called Mangalyaan (Hindi for "Mars Craft") — will arrive at the Red Planet on Sept. 24, 2014, making India the fourth country to successfully deliver a spacecraft to Mars. The $73.5 million Mangalyaan spacecraft weighs 2,980 pounds (1,350 kilograms). Through the course of several orbits, the spacecraft will perform a series of maneuvers to place it on a path to Mars.

Five things to know about India's Mars orbiter - CNN.com Five things to know about India's Mars orbiter updated 9:19 AM EDT, Thu September 25, 2014 STORY HIGHLIGHTS Mars Orbiter Mission is pride of India after its successful entry into Red Planet Mangalyaan has sent back its first images of the surface of Mars Mission cost less than was spent to produce Hollywood film "Gravity" (CNN) -- The United States couldn't do it on its first try. Neither could the Soviets. In true underdog fashion, India launched its ultra-budget spacecraft and bested the Americans and Europeans by becoming the first nation to succeed in sending a spacecraft into Mars' orbit on its initial attempt. Twenty-four hours into India's entry into the elite space club, the Mars Orbiter Mission, also known as Mangalyaan, is circling the Red Planet and sending back data and photos to the command center. Here are five things to know about the latest Mars darling: The Mars Orbiter spacecraft prepares for a prelaunch test at Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR in Srihairkota. The Mars Orbiter spacecraft is pictured attached to the PSLV-C25 launch vehicle, with the heat shield open.

The PSLV-C25 launch vehicle is pictured with the heat shield closed. Scientists and engineers work on the Mars Orbiter vehicle at the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) satellite centre in Bangalore on September 11, 2013. An Indian security forces member watches the PSLV-C25 launch vehicle carrying the Mars Orbiter probe as its payload on October 30, 2013. Indian bystanders watch a bank of screens showing the live telecast of the launch of India's Mars Orbiter Mission inside a showroom in New Delhi on November 5, 2013. The PSLV-C25 launch vehicle, carrying the Mars Orbiter probe as its payload, lifts off on November 5, 2013. India's first Mars orbiter Photos: India's first Mars orbiter India launches mission to Mars Open Mic: India's Mars mission 1. How India kept its Mars mission costs low The much-repeated phrase is that the Mars Orbiter Mission at $74 million cost less than the $100 million budget for the Hollywood space thriller "Gravity." At least "Gravity" earned a few Academy Awards.

India's Mars mission actually cost a lot less than most of this year's Hollywood summer flops -- some of which you probably don't remember. For example, the budget for Tom Cruise's flick "Edge of Tomorrow" could have funded two India Mars mission with its whopping $178 million budget. India has built a reputation for its frugal innovations. READ: Enter India's amazing world of frugal innovation CNNMoney explains that the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was able to save money by using short development cycles and taking advantage of India's cheap labor market. For example, highly-skilled aerospace engineers in India might receive a salary of $1,000 per month, a fraction of what they could earn in Europe or the U.S. 2. How quickly the Mars mission was pulled together India's then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced India's Mars aspiration in August 2012. In a rapid turnaround, the ISRO worked at breakneck speed to engineer, assemble and launch the Mars Orbiter. By November 2013, it launched from Chennai and 10 months later, it reached Mars' orbit to inspire a nation.

From announcement to execution, the Mars mission took India's space agency two years and one month. In comparison, NASA's MAVEN was announced in September 2008 , and reached the planet's orbit earlier this week -- taking six years. In a Forbes interview from 2013, ISRO Chairman Dr. K. Radhakrishnan said that India's space scientists commonly work 18-hour days and even 20-hour days during launch period, which made them more time and cost effective. 3. The purpose of India's space mission The Mars spacecraft will orbit the Red Planet, mapping its surface and studying the atmosphere. The observation has already begun using its scientific instruments, according to ISRO. The view is nice up here. pic.twitter.com/VmAjNI76lm — ISRO's Mars Orbiter (@MarsOrbiter) September 25, 2014 For much of its 50-year history, India's space program has prioritized developing technological capacity to help its population, such as improving its telecommunications infrastructure and environmental monitoring with satellites.

India's space program launched its first Earth satellite in 1975 and put an unmanned probe into orbit around the Moon in 2008. 4. It's winning the Internet These days, if your spacecraft doesn't have a social account with a quirky personality, it might as well not exist. The Mars Orbiter's new Twitter account casually greeted NASA's Mars Curiosity, "Howdy... Keep in touch." Howdy @MarsCuriosity ? Keep in touch. I'll be around. — ISRO's Mars Orbiter (@MarsOrbiter) September 24, 2014 It joined an elite club of recent space darlings like NASA's Curiosity and China's defunct Moon rover Jade Rabbit, whose popularity soared due to a blend of cheeky and scientific social media posts. 5. It's not without controversy In a country where one in three people lacks basic amenities like electricity, not all could cheer India's interplanetary aspirations. The statistics are sobering: one out of three malnourished children in the world lives in India. It faces development, poverty, education and gender challenges. Some critics have said that India should channel its funds into helping people here on Earth.

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updated 3:27 PM EST, Tue February 25, 2014 From a sheep ranch in Western Australia comes the oldest slice of Earth we know. India Launches Its First Mission to Mars | Daily Planet | Air & Space Magazine Air & Space Magazine India Launches Its First Mission to Mars With hopes to become the first Asian nation to explore the Red Planet The Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft attached to its rocket, just before being closed inside the launch shroud. (ISRO) airspacemag.com November 1, 2013 November 5 update: India has launched the Mars Orbiter Mission. The spacecraft is now in its planned Earth orbit, and will depart for Mars on December 1. In more than half a century of trying, only two space agencies — from the United States and Europe — have managed to pull off entirely successful Mars missions. Attempts by Russia, Japan, England, and China to send spacecraft to the Red Planet have all ended in total or near-total failure. Now India’s space agency, ISRO, hopes to succeed where others have stumbled.

Next Tuesday, an Indian PSLV rocket is scheduled to lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre near the country’s southern tip, carrying the Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft, also known unofficially as Mangalyaan — Hindi for “Mars craft.” It’s a bold step for India, but then so was its Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter, which mapped the moon’s surface in 2008. By designing the $70 million (cheap for a Mars orbiter) MOM mission as a technology demonstrator, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has taken the cautious route, and may have improved its odds. Rather than load up a big spacecraft with lots of expensive instruments (which would have required a bigger but more failure-prone rocket called the GSLV), ISRO went with the smaller, more reliable PSLV, and a modest payload. Mangalyaan carries just five small instruments: a color camera, an infrared spectrometer for mapping minerals on the Martian surface, a photometer for measuring hydrogen and deuterium in the atmosphere, another spectrometer focused on the upper atmosphere, and an instrument for measuring methane. The last is of special interest to scientists trying to solve the mystery of methane on Mars .

Telescopes on Earth and Europe’s Mars Express spacecraft in Martian orbit have detected enough of the gas in the atmosphere to suggest that it’s being produced currently by Martian organisms. But the Curiosity rover came up empty when it sniffed for methane near the surface. The Methane Sensor for Mars on Mangalyaan is designed to detect atmospheric methane down to several parts per billion. “That would be a valuable contribution,” says Michael Mumma of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, one of the leaders in studying Martian methane. “However, the technical difficulties should not be overlooked.” We’ll keep our fingers crossed on that one. If the spacecraft just arrives safely in Mars orbit and operates there for six to ten months as anticipated, that alone could qualify the mission as a triumph. Chandrayaan-1 was rightly seen as a success, but the mission was cut short by component failures, and operating at Mars is more difficult than orbiting the moon. The rocket engine designed to brake Mangalyaan into Mars orbit when it arrives next September will have to start flawlessly after a 300-day cruise through cold space. Communications, power, and thermal control will all be more complicated than they were with Chandrayaan.

The graveyard of lost Mars missions includes 19 from Russia alone (although, to be fair, half of those were early in the space age). Japan’s Nozomi spacecraft suffered a fuel valve problem in 1998, and never recovered enough to reach Mars orbit. China’s small Yinghuo-1 Mars orbiter had hoped to piggyback on the Russian Fobos-Grunt Mars mission in 2011, but both spacecraft were stranded in Earth orbit when a rocket misfired. England’s Beagle 2 lander, launched in 2003, crashed on the Martian surface. NASA has had its failures, too, including the Mars Climate Orbiter lost in 1999 due to a mixup over metric vs. imperial measurements. So wish the team at ISRO luck. Launch is scheduled for 4:08 a.m. Eastern (U.S.) time on November 5. Here K. Radhakrishnan, head of the ISRO, gives a lengthy guided tour of the spacecraft for New Delhi Television: Like this article?

India Launches Mars Orbiter Mission - ABC News ABC News India Launches Mars Orbiter Mission, Heralds New Space Race By JON M. CHANG WATCH India Launches Mission to Mars 0 Shares Email The Curiosity rover might be getting a visitor from Earth sometime next year, courtesy of the world's largest democracy. The Indian Space and Research Organization (ISRO) launched its Mars Orbiter Mission today from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India -- the first inter-planetary expedition for the country. The Mars Orbiter Mission also goes by the name Mangalyaan, which means "Mars craft" in Hindi. Only three other space agencies have successfully made it to the Mars: NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency, and the European Space Agency. "We want to use the first opportunity to put a spacecraft and orbit it around Mars," ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan told the Associated Press. "And, once it is there safely, then conduct a few meaningful experiments and energize the scientific community." The Mars Orbiter is expected to reach the red planet on Sept. 24, 2014.

Though NASA, RFSA and ESA have had their share of successes and failures in getting a spacecraft to Mars, other countries have made the attempt as well. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency launched the Nozomi (Planet-B) in 1998, but failed to get hooked into the red planet's orbit. The China National Space Administration partnered with the RFSA to launch the Yinghuo-1 orbiter, but the spacecraft failed to leave Earth's orbit . NASA is scheduled to launch another satellite, MAVEN , into the red planet's orbit in a couple of weeks. Nick Schneider, a faculty research associate at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Colorado, said that the research goals of ISRO and NASA complement one another. Instant Index: NASA Astronaut Demonstrates Spinning in Space NASA's Mars probe has an instrument that examines ultraviolet emissions from all types of gases at varying altitudes in the Martian atmosphere. "The Mars Orbiter is measuring one gas, hydrogen, at a much higher altitude," Schneider told ABC News. "Because the Mars Orbiter's orbit extends higher than Maven's, there is potential for collaboration." Getting any type of spacecraft to Mars, whether it's a satellite or a rover like Curiosity, is a difficult undertaking.

"A little more than half of the missions to Mars have failed," said Schneider. "It's a very challenging task, but we're all trying to beat the odds." "NASA congratulates the ISRO on the successful launch of its Mars mission, which is its first planetary mission," a NASA spokesman said in a statement. "We look forward to the spacecraft's successful insertion into Mars' orbit and learning more about the red planet's atmosphere." 0 Shares ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyan) - Aerospace Technology The MOM spacecraft was launched on 5 November 2013 from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR. ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyan), India The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also known as Mangalyan, is a Mars exploration spacecraft designed and developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The spacecraft lifted off on 5 November 2013 from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR located at Srihairkota, Andhra Pradesh, India. It successfully entered Martian orbit on 24 September 2014 at 7.30am IST.

The core objectives of the Mangalyan spacecraft include discovering technical aspects relating to the surface, features, morphology, mineralogy and atmosphere on Mars, with the help of locally developed scientific instruments. ISRO aims to gather data to establish how Martian weather systems work and know what happened to the water that is supposed to have been formerly present on the planet. It will also search for methane, which is an important chemical in life processes. At $73m (INR 4.5bn), India's Mars mission is considered to be the cheapest by any nation. The Nasa's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft , with an estimated cost of $485m, was launched on 18 November 2013. Design of India's Mars orbiter spacecraft The MOM spacecraft was designed and manufactured by ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC) located at Peenya Industrial Estates in Bengaluru, India. The spacecraft is fitted with similar core structure and systems which were used in Chandrayaan-1 Moon orbiter mission by ISRO.

The MOM spacecraft has a launch mass of 1,340kg including a dry mass of 475kg, a payload mass of 15kg, and a fuel load of 852kg. It is equipped with a single deployable solar array with three panels each measuring 1.4m x 1.8m in size. It also includes a yoke and drive mechanism. "At $73m, India's Mars mission is considered as the cheapest by any nation." The solar array will provide 840W of electrical power to the spacecraft at Mars, and also charging for a lithium ion battery with a capacity of 36 amp-hours. The spacecraft is based on the I-1K satellite bus platform manufactured by ISRO. The satellite bus is cuboidal, featuring composite and metallic honeycomb sandwich panels. Mangalyan (MOM) spacecraft development The spacecraft development programme was approved by the government of India in August 2012. The individual spacecraft components assembly began in 2012 and was completed in March 2013. The payload instruments were integrated in April 2013. The spacecraft testing was completed between August and September 2013.

The programme was completed within 15 months. Details of Mangalyan: India's Mars orbiter mission The MOM spacecraft is placed at Mars elliptical orbit of 250km by 23,500km at an inclination of 19.2°. The spacecraft stayed on trans-Martian orbit for around 300 days, before entering the Mars orbit in September 2014. It will travel more than 780 million kilometres to complete orbiting Mars. India's Mars orbiter spacecraft equipment The spacecraft is fitted with five scientific payload instruments weighing about 15kg. The payloads include lyman alpha photometer (LAP), Martian exospheric neutral composition analyser (MENCA), Mars colour camera (MCC), methane sensor for Mars (MSM), and thermal infrared imaging system (TIS). "The spacecraft stayed on trans-Martian orbit for around 300 days before entering the Mars orbit in September 2014." The LAP weights 1.5kg and includes an ultraviolet detector. Its role is to determine the deuterium-to-hydrogen abundance ratio in the Martian atmosphere. The MENCA is a 4kg quadrupole mass spectrometer.

It will study the exospheric neutral density and composition of Mars surface over altitudes of about 372km. The MCC weighs 1.4kg and includes a 2,000pxx2,000px array detector with RGB bayer filter. The payload will take 50km x 50km frame size colour images to study the Martian surface topography. The MSM payload weighs 3.6kg and includes a Fabry-Perot Etalon sensor. Its objective is to measure methane concentrations in the Mars atmosphere. The TIS payload weighs 4kg and includes a spectrometer. It will measure thermal emissions from the Martian surface. The spacecraft is also fitted with a parabolic X-band reflector high gain antenna with a 2.2m diameter, which will be used for data downlink and command uplink. The low and medium antennas fitted to the aircraft enable low-bandwidth communications. It includes two solid state recorders with a storage capacity of 16GB in the spacecraft. Data from the spacecraft will be downlinked using 18m and 32m antennae of Indian Deep Space Network, located at Bangalore.

Launch vehicle for India's Mars orbiter spacecraft The spacecraft was launched atop of PSLV-XL C25 rocket. The rocket used a combination of solid and liquid-fuelled propulsion in the four stages of launch. The propulsion system included two spherical propellant tanks each holding 390l of propellant. Related content Related: India's giant interplanetary leap to Mars The scientific objective of the mission includes the exploration of Mars’ surface features, morphology, mineralogy and atmosphere by indigenous scientific instruments. The Mars Orbiter Mission was achieved on a budget of $74m, nearly a tenth of the amount the US space agency NASA spent on sending the Maven spacecraft to Mars. Before India, only Russia, the US and the European Space Agency have succeeded in sending spacecrafts to the red planet. Indian scientists and engineers of the Indian Space Research Organization [ISRO] monitor the Mars Orbiter Mission [MOM] at the tracking centre, ISTRAC [Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network], at the Mars Orbiter Mission in Bangalore. [Jagadeesh Nv/EPA] India is the first Asian nation to reach the red planet.

[ISRO Handout/Al Jazeera] India's mission has been budgeted at 4.5 billion rupees [$74m], which, by Western standards, is staggeringly cheap. ISRO's mission cost around 11 percent of NASA's mission to Mars. [ISRO handout/Al Jazeera] Students pose in a group with banners featuring Mars and Indian Space Research Organization [ISRO] scientists as they celebrate India's Mars orbiter successfully entering the red planet's orbit, at a school in the southern Indian city of Chennai on September 24, 2014. [Babu/Reuters] Space Pioneer award for the year 2015 was presented to the Indian Space Research Organisation [ISRO] by National Space Society [NSS] of the US in recognition of ISRO's efforts in accomplishing Mars Mission in its very first attempt. [ISRO Handout/Al Jazeera] School students light firecrackers as they hold placards which read: 'India made history' and 'India's Mars mission successful'.

[Amit Dave/Reuters] The Orbiter Spacecraft successfully launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, about 80km from Chennai on 5 November, 2013. [ISRO Handout/Al Jazeera] Indian scientists and engineers of the Indian Space Research Organization [ISRO] celebrate after successfully putting the satellite Mars Orbiter Mission [MOM] Mangalyaan into orbit around Mars, at the tracking center in Bangalore. [EPA/JAGADEESH NV [Jagadeesh Nv/EPA] An Indian man dances with a poster that reads: 'Congratulations on the success of Mangalyaan'. [Sanjeev Gupta/EPA] India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] workers exchange sweets as they celebrate the successful entering of the Indian Mars Orbiter [Mangalyaan] into the Mars orbit on 24 September, 2014. [Sanjeev Gupta/EPA] Indian scientists and engineers of the Indian Space Research Organization [ISRO] monitor the Mars Orbiter Mission [MOM] at the tracking centre, ISTRAC [Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network], at the Mars Orbiter Mission in Bangalore.

[Jagadeesh Nv/EPA] India is the first Asian nation to reach the red planet. [ISRO Handout/Al Jazeera] India's mission has been budgeted at 4.5 billion rupees [$74m], which, by Western standards, is staggeringly cheap. ISRO's mission cost around 11 percent of NASA's mission to Mars. [ISRO handout/Al Jazeera] Students pose in a group with banners featuring Mars and Indian Space Research Organization [ISRO] scientists as they celebrate India's Mars orbiter successfully entering the red planet's orbit, at a school in the southern Indian city of Chennai on September 24, 2014. [Babu/Reuters] Space Pioneer award for the year 2015 was presented to the Indian Space Research Organisation [ISRO] by National Space Society [NSS] of the US in recognition of ISRO's efforts in accomplishing Mars Mission in its very first attempt. [ISRO Handout/Al Jazeera] School students light firecrackers as they hold placards which read: 'India made history' and 'India's Mars mission successful'.

[Amit Dave/Reuters] The Orbiter Spacecraft successfully launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, about 80km from Chennai on 5 November, 2013. [ISRO Handout/Al Jazeera] Indian scientists and engineers of the Indian Space Research Organization [ISRO] celebrate after successfully putting the satellite Mars Orbiter Mission [MOM] Mangalyaan into orbit around Mars, at the tracking center in Bangalore. [EPA/JAGADEESH NV [Jagadeesh Nv/EPA] An Indian man dances with a poster that reads: 'Congratulations on the success of Mangalyaan'. [Sanjeev Gupta/EPA] India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] workers exchange sweets as they celebrate the successful entering of the Indian Mars Orbiter [Mangalyaan] into the Mars orbit on 24 September, 2014. [Sanjeev Gupta/EPA] Indian scientists and engineers of the Indian Space Research Organization [ISRO] monitor the Mars Orbiter Mission [MOM] at the tracking centre, ISTRAC [Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network], at the Mars Orbiter Mission in Bangalore.

[Jagadeesh Nv/EPA] India is the first Asian nation to reach the red planet. [ISRO Handout/Al Jazeera] India's mission has been budgeted at 4.5 billion rupees [$74m], which, by Western standards, is staggeringly cheap. ISRO's mission cost around 11 percent of NASA's mission to Mars. [ISRO handout/Al Jazeera] Students pose in a group with banners featuring Mars and Indian Space Research Organization [ISRO] scientists as they celebrate India's Mars orbiter successfully entering the red planet's orbit, at a school in the southern Indian city of Chennai on September 24, 2014. [Babu/Reuters] Space Pioneer award for the year 2015 was presented to the Indian Space Research Organisation [ISRO] by National Space Society [NSS] of the US in recognition of ISRO's efforts in accomplishing Mars Mission in its very first attempt. [ISRO Handout/Al Jazeera] School students light firecrackers as they hold placards which read: 'India made history' and 'India's Mars mission successful'.

[Amit Dave/Reuters] The Orbiter Spacecraft successfully launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, about 80km from Chennai on 5 November, 2013. [ISRO Handout/Al Jazeera] Indian scientists and engineers of the Indian Space Research Organization [ISRO] celebrate after successfully putting the satellite Mars Orbiter Mission [MOM] Mangalyaan into orbit around Mars, at the tracking center in Bangalore. [EPA/JAGADEESH NV [Jagadeesh Nv/EPA] An Indian man dances with a poster that reads: 'Congratulations on the success of Mangalyaan'. [Sanjeev Gupta/EPA] India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] workers exchange sweets as they celebrate the successful entering of the Indian Mars Orbiter [Mangalyaan] into the Mars orbit on 24 September, 2014.

[Sanjeev Gupta/EPA] Recommended India's First Mission to Mars Launching Tuesday India's First Mission to Mars Launching Tuesday By Tariq Malik, Managing Editor | November 4, 2013 06:13pm ET MORE India's first interplanetary probe, Mars Orbiter Spacecraft was prepared for launch on November 5, 2013, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. Credit: ISRO Editor's Note: India's Mars Orbiter Mission has successfully launched toward the Red Planet. Read our full story on the launch here: Liftoff! India's First Mars Probe Launches Toward the Red Planet India is counting down toward the launch of its first mission to Mars on Tuesday (Nov. 5), a mission that — if successful —will place the country in an exclusive club of nations capable of sending probes to the Red Planet. The Indian Space Research Organization will launch the Mars Orbiter Mission at 4:08 a.m. EST (0908 GMT) from a pad at the agency's Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, where the local time will be 2:38 p.m. in the afternoon.

You can watch India's Mars mission launch live online via Spaceflight Now. The webcast will begin at 3:30 a.m. EST (0830 GMT). You can also watch it directly from Spaceflight Now and the ISRO here . India's first interplanetary probe, Mars Orbiter Spacecraft onboard a PSLV-C25 launch vehicle (XL version) will launch on November 5, 2013, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. Here the rocket undergoes launch testing. Credit: ISRO India's 4.5 billion rupee ($73.5 million) Mars Orbiter Mission will send the Mangalyaan spacecraft (the name is Hindi for "Mars Craft") on an 11-month trek to Mars to study the planet's atmosphere and surface from orbit. The spacecraft carries five instruments to study Mars, but its primary purpose is to serve as a technology demonstrator for future Indian interplanetary probes, ISRO officials have said. [ Photos: India's 1st Mission to Mars in Pictures ] "Orbiting Mars itself is a challenge," said ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan, according to the Times of India .

"This is our first interplanetary mission. There will be bigger missions later." An artist's illustration of India's Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft, called Mangalyaan, launching in November 2013. Credit: ISRO The risks for the mission are high. It's tough to reach Mars with spacecraft, and more than half of the 40 missions launched to the Red Planet since 1960 have failed. India would be only the fourth country or space agency to deliver a probe to Mars after Russia, the United States and the European Space Agency if the Mars Orbiter Mission succeeds. By coincidence, NASA is planning to launch its own mission to Mars this month on Nov. 18. See how India's Mars mission works in our full infographic . Credit: by Karl Tate, Infographics Artist The Mangalyaan spacecraft will launch toward Mars atop an enhanced version of India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket . If all goes well, India's Mangalyaan spacecraft should arrive at Mars on Sept. 24, 2014, ISRO officials said. The mission was initially slated to launch on Oct.

28, but was pushed back when bad weather delayed the ships that will track the spacecraft after it separates from its rocket, ISRO officials said. As the centerpiece of India's Mars Orbiter Mission, the Mangalyaan probe is a 2,976 lb. (1,350 kilogram) spacecraft powered by solar arrays and packed with five instruments to study the surface and atmosphere of Mars. Those instruments include a color camera for photographic imaging, a spectrometer for surface composition and mineralogy analysis and a methane sensor. The methane sensor in particular is a stand-out instrument as it is designed specifically to seek out methane gas in the Martian atmosphere. Methane has been a target of Mars scientists because while it can be created through geologic processes, it can also be a potential sign of microbial life. India is not the only country with its eyes set on Mars. NASA currently has two active rovers — the 1-ton Curiosity rover and smaller Opportunity —on the planet's surface. Orbiters from the U.S. and European Space Agency are also monitoring the planet from orbit.

NASA's next Red Planet mission, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (Maven), is slated to launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Nov. 18. The $671 million Maven mission to Mars is built specifically to study the atmosphere of Mars in unprecedented detail. No planet is more steeped in myth and misconception than Mars. This quiz will reveal how much you really know about some of the goofiest claims about the red planet. Start Over | More Quizzes NASA is also planning to launch the InSight lander to Mars in 2016 to dig deep underground on a mission to better understand the planet's core. The European Space Agency, meanwhile, is planning to launch two missions to Mars — an orbiter in 2016 and a rover in 2018 — as part of its ExoMars program. ESA has partnered with Russia on those missions. India's first mission to Mars follows the country's Chandrayaan 1 moon orbiter mission, which helped detect evidence of water ice on the lunar surface. ISRO officials are also developing a second moon probe, Chandrayaan 2, as a follow-up lunar flight.

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom , Facebook and Google+ . Original article on SPACE.com . Editor's Recommendations India launches spacecraft to Mars - BBC News BBC News India launches spacecraft to Mars 5 November 2013 From the section Science & Environment comments Close share panel Media captionThe BBC's Sanjoy Majumder reports from inside the Satish Dhawan Space Centre India has successfully launched a spacecraft to the Red Planet - with the aim of becoming the fourth space agency to reach Mars. The Mars Orbiter Mission took off at 09:08 GMT from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on the country's east coast. The head of India's space agency told the BBC the mission would demonstrate the technological capability to reach Mars orbit and carry out experiments. The spacecraft is set to travel for 300 days, reaching Mars orbit in 2014. If the satellite orbits the Red Planet, India's space agency will become the fourth in the world after those of the US, Russia and Europe to undertake a successful Mars mission.

In order for the MOM to embark on the right trajectory for its 300-day, 780-million km journey, it must carry out its final orbital burn by 30 November. Media captionThe moment of lift-off Some observers are viewing the launch of the MOM, also known by the informal name of Mangalyaan (Mars-craft), as the latest salvo in a burgeoning space race between the Asian powers of India, China, Japan, South Korea and others. At the scene By Andrew NorthSouth Asia correspondent The last few numbers of the countdown came over the tannoy. Three, two, one, zero. Then silence. A second later, a white-hot fireball rose above the tree line shrouding the launch site from the watching media. Then came a roar of sound and India's first ever mission to Mars was on its way. Some of the journalists clapped and cheered as the rocket soared higher, a trail of white smoke bubbling behind. No one was interested here in questions about India's priorities. First stage normal, intoned the countdown announcer. The fireball was becoming a distant speck in the sky above the Bay of Bengal. Camera crews and reporters were already starting to pack their gear.

India's Mars probe is not due to reach the atmosphere of the Red Planet until next September, but the first stage of the mission went as planned. Prof Andrew Coates, from University College London's Mullard Space Science Laboratory, told BBC News: "I think this mission really brings India to the table of international space exploration. Interplanetary exploration is certainly not trivial to do, and [India] has found some interesting scientific niches to make some measurements in." Those niche areas include searching for the signature of methane (CH4) in the Martian atmosphere, which has previously been detected from Martian orbit and telescopes on Earth. However, Nasa's Curiosity rover recently failed to find the gas in its measurements of atmospheric gases. CH4 has a short lifetime in the Martian atmosphere, meaning that some source on the Red Planet must replenish it. Intriguingly, some 95% of atmospheric methane on Earth is produced by microbes, which has led some to propose the possibility of a biosphere deep beneath the Martian surface. But the gas can be produced by geological processes too, most notably by volcanism.

Definitive conclusions are likely to be elusive, but the spacecraft's Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM) instrument will aim to make measurements and map any potential sources of methane "plumes". The spacecraft will also examine the rate of loss of atmospheric gases to outer space. This could provide insights into the planet's history; billions of years ago, the envelope of gases around Mars is thought to have been more substantial. At $72m (£45m), the mission is comparatively cheap, but some commentators have still questioned whether a country with one of the highest rankings for childhood malnutrition in the world should be spending millions on a mission to the Red Planet. In one sense, India was left in a quandary because of the failure of its most powerful launcher, the first choice to loft the MOM into orbit. It meant the country's space agency could no longer fire the satellite directly out of Earth's atmosphere.

Mars mission history Image copyright NASA The USSR, Russia, US, Britain, Europe, Japan and China have all launched missions to Mars There have been around 40 missions (but the total depends on how they are added up) More than half the world's attempts to reach the Red Planet have failed Only the US, USSR and Europe have been successful to date How the Mars mission helps India As a fuel-saving alternative, the spacecraft will circle Earth in an elliptical orbit for nearly a month, building up the necessary velocity to break free from our planet's gravitational pull. The formal name for the route MOM will take to Mars is a "Hohmann Transfer Orbit". The spacecraft takes advantage of a favourable planetary alignment, carrying out six small engine burns over November to lift it to a higher orbit before a final burn sends it off on an interplanetary trajectory. The difficulty of visiting the Red Planet will not be lost on Indian officials; just under half the total attempts to reach Mars have succeeded. But Prof Coates said the planned mechanics for getting to Mars were on a sound footing, and that the probe stood a good chance as long as its engines fired correctly.

Those who defend India's current direction in space exploration say the technological development required to mount this mission could indirectly benefit the country's other activities, including poverty reduction. Nisha Agrawal, chief executive of Oxfam in India, told the BBC: "India is home to poor people but it's also an emerging economy, it's a middle-income country, it's a member of the G20. What is hard for people to get their head around is that we are home to poverty but also a global power. MARS MISSION PAYLOADS Lyman Alpha Photomoter (LAP): measures amount of hydrogen and deuterium which will help scientists understand the loss of water from Mars Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA): Studies the neutral composition of the upper atmosphere Mars colour camera: Takes images of the surface of Mars and its satellites Phobos and Deimos Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer: Measures thermal emissions and helps map surface composition and minerals "We are not really one country but two in one.

And we need to do both things: contribute to global knowledge as well as take care of poor people at home." K Radhakrishnan, chair of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), told the BBC's India Business Report: "Why India has to be in the space programme is a question that has been asked over the last 50 years. The answer then, now and in the future will be: 'It is for finding solutions to the problems of man and society.' He added: "A great revolution has taken place over these last 50 years in the country by a meagre expenditure that has been put into the space programme." Mr Radhakrishnan played down talk of a race between China and India in space, commenting: "We are not in a race with anybody, but I would say we are in a race with ourselves. We need to excel, we need to improve, and we need to bring new services." But a successful launch would allow India to surge ahead of regional rival China, at least in the exploration of Mars. China's Yinghuo-1 spacecraft was to have reached Martian orbit in late 2012.

But it was piggybacked on the Russian Phobos Grunt spacecraft, which became stranded in low-Earth orbit shortly after launch in November 2011. The MOM was to have been launched as early as 28 October, but rough weather in the Pacific forced officials to postpone lift-off. Media captionArchive: People in India told the BBC what they thought of the mission India`s first spacecraft to Mars successfully put into Earth`s orbit | Zee News India`s first spacecraft to Mars successfully put into Earth`s orbit By Philaso G. Kaping | Last Updated: Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - 20:03 0 Follow @ZeeNews Zee Media Bureau/Philaso G Kaping Sriharikota: India has launched its first mission to Mars on Tuesday at 02:38pm (0908 GMT) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre here in Andhra Pradesh. The spacecraft was carried onboard the indigenous PSLV-C25 rocket which injected it into Earth`s orbit after 40 minutes from lift-off.

The 350-tonne launch vehicle will orbit earth for nearly a month before picking up the necessary velocity to break free from Earth’s gravitational pull. The Rs 430-crore project, informally known as "Mangalyaan", was approved on 3 August, 2012 and the Indian Space Research Organisation immediately jumped into action to create India’s first interplanetary spacecraft. "I am extremely happy to announce PSLV-C25 placed Mars Orbiter spacecraft very precisely in elliptical orbit around Earth. Now it will be a complex mission to take the Mars Orbiter from the Earth`s orbit to Mars orbit," K Radhakrishnan, ISRO chairman, said. The Bangalore-based organisation and its 16,000 staff also share their rocket technology with the state-run defence body responsible for India`s rapidly evolving missile programme. So far only three other space agencies including United States’ NASA, Russia’s Roscosmos and the Europe’s space agency have achieved the feat of reaching Earth’s closest neighbour. Some of the objectives of the mission are to develop the technologies required for design, planning, management and operations of an interplanetary mission and also to study the Martian surface and atmosphere using indigenous scientific instruments.

NASA, which will launch its own probe to study Mars on November 18, is helping ISRO with communications. The spacecraft is expected to reach Mars` orbit on September 14, 2014.

Question: Which country has launched its Mars Orbiter spacecraft, also known as Mangalyaan, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre ?
Answer: INDIA