TNI Bureau: India is set to launch a rocket to Mars in November for the first time after the success of Chandrayaan-1. If the mission to Mars (Magalayaan ) becomes successful, India will join the elite club of four countries – the US, Russia, Europe and Japan.
India will be a prominent country in the space science after its successful launch in this year. In fact, India was likely to fire a second rocket to the moon as part of Chandrayaan-2 this year, but, scientists are now planning to shift their focus to Mars from Moon.
The decision was taken on Friday by JN Goswami, director of the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad and the principal scientist of
Chandrayaan-1, at the Indian Science Congress (ISC) after the failure of Russian Mars mission Phobos-Grunt for which the Chandrayaan-2 mission was delayed.
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The rocket PSLV-XL to the Red planet Mars is likely to be fired on November 26-27. Magalayaan will be completely an Indian project. If it becomes successful, the country will have unique status in the world.
Even former President APJ Abdul Kalam, who inaugurated the ISC’s children’s science congress, talked about the importance of the project. “Mars is an international property. We have to undertake the mission to stake our claim on the planet,” he said.
This is India’s first attempt after Chinese mission to Mars, Yinghuo-1, failed last year. “We are gearing up for an October-November launch. If we miss this slot then the next one will come only in 2018,” Goswami said, adding the prototype payloads were ready and the actual payloads would arrive in the next couple of months.