New Delhi: India on Wednesday created space history by becoming the first country in the world to enter Mars' orbit in its debut attempt. A beaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, wearing a red jacket symbolic of the Red Planet, described it as "achieving the near impossible", congratulated the feat of Indian scientists and called for challenging the next frontier. India's Mars Orbiter Mission or ‘Mangalyaan’ (MOM) traversed over 650 million km through deep space for over nine months to successfully reach the planet's orbit. The US, Europe and Russia had failed in their first attempts.
The make-or-break tricky manoeuvre carried out with clockwork precision on the refrigerator sized spacecraft as planned was watched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who exultantly described it as "a historic occasion", saying the country has achieved the ‘near impossible’. "Today MOM has met Mangal (Mars). Today Mangal has got MOM. The time this mission was short named as MOM, I was sure that MOM won't disappoint us," Modi said, declaring the mission's success after nerve-wracking final moments at Indian Space Research Organisation's command centre in Bangalore.
The success "will go down as landmark in history", said a visibly delighted Modi. India's Mars mission is "a shining symbol of what we are capable of as a nation" and we have gone beyond boundaries of human enterprise and imagination, he added. The 475 kg (dry mass) Orbiter will take 77 hours or 3.2 earth days to rotate around the red planet over the next six months and will study its surface and mineral composition and scan its atmosphere for methane gas in search of life-sustaining elements. The prime minister said that the MOM was built "indigenously, in a pan-Indian effort. With today's spectacular success, ISRO joins an elite group of only three other agencies worldwide to have successfully reached the Red Planet," he added amidst applause. Modi, who spoke in English and Hindi, said that the "odds were stacked against us". "Of the 51 missions attempted across the world so far, a mere 21 had succeeded. But we have prevailed...Travelling an incredible distance, of over 650 million or 65 crore km, we have gone beyond boundaries of human enterprise and imagination."
Even pioneer space agencies like USA's National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA), Europe's European Space Agency and Russia' Roscosmos were unable to reach the red planet in their maiden attempt. The cost effective and indigenously built Mangalyaan travelled a distance of 650 crore kms for over 300 days to reach its destination on the September 24. The US $67 million (Rs 450 crore) Mars Orbiter Mission, which is much less than the cost of any Mars mission undertaken by other space agencies, will explore the planet's surface features, morphology, mineralogy and its atmosphere by indigenous scientific instruments.
NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN), which reached the red planet just 48 hours before Mangalyaan entered the planet's orbit, is worth US $671 million. MAVEN was launched in November 2013 with an objective to greatly enhance understanding of Mars' climate history by providing a comprehensive picture of the planet's upper atmosphere, ionosphere, solar energy drivers and atmospheric losses. The ESA spent just $386 million on Mars Express and it included the launch, the spacecraft, the scientific payload (including the lander) and operations. It was launched on June 2, 2003. In November 2011, Russia's Phobos-Grunt space probe suffered a debilitating malfunction shortly after its launch, which stranded it in low-Earth orbit for more than two months before it succumbed to gravitational forces and plummeted through the atmosphere on January 15. The $165 million spacecraft reportedly broke apart over the Pacific Ocean.
Japanese's first Mars explorer NOZOMI also failed to reach Mars. On July 4, 1998, the explorer was launched but due to frequent problems, the systems required to enter orbit around Mars did not work. Every possible effort to restore NOZOMI failed and it became an artificial planet that flies forever in orbit around the Sun near that of Mars. Even the Hollywood sci-fi movie 'Gravity' cost more than Mangalyaan. The production cost of the movie was around US $100 million. Mangalyaan has had a completely flawless journey through the space since its launch on November 5, 2013. The spacecraft will send the first pictures back to the ISRO headquarters in Bangalore by Wednesday evening. The spacecraft can be as close as just 80 kms from the planet during its orbit.
Congratulations poured in for the scientists from Across the globe. The US, China and Australia were among the countries which congratulated India after Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft 'Mangalyaan' slipped into a smooth orbit around the Red Planet after almost an year-long voyage.
China said that it was not only a proud achievement for the country and Asia but also a "landmark progress" in mankind's exploration of outer space. "This is pride of India and Pride of Asia and also is a landmark progress in humankind's exploration of outer space. So we congratulate India on that," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said in Beijing.
US space agency NASA, which has just launched its own MAVEN mission to the Red Planet, also congratulated ISRO. "The US Embassy congratulates India and the Indian Space Research Organisation on its Mars Orbiter Mission. India is in an elite group of space-faring nations by achieving insertion into Mars orbit," a statement from the US embassy said.
People took to social networking media to express their joy and pride at the achievement. "Mangalyaan... Bharat Mata ki Jai! Historic! Only country to have succeeded in first attempt, on budget less than Hollywood film... Our scientists have achieved what others could not... Badhai, Pyaar, Sneh, Abhinandan, aur Jai jai kaar! MOM (Mars Orbiter Mission)," Amitabh Bachchan, 71, posted on Twitter.
