The Indian Space Research Organisation’s ambitious plan to send an orbiter to Mars has received a boost with the Budget presented in Parliament on Friday making an allocation of Rs. 125 crore for the mission during the coming financial year.
The project, which comes on the heels of the Chandrayaan mission to moon, envisages placing a spacecraft in the Red planet’s orbit to study its atmosphere with the help of ISRO’s work horse launch rocket – Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle [PSLV].
The ISRO had been aiming at launching the mission either in 2016 and 2018. But, it seems the launch could happen earlier, in November next year itself, going by the Budget document.
According to the document, “Mars Orbiter mission envisages launching an Orbiter around Mars using Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle [PSLV-XL] during the Novermber 2013 launch opportunity. Mars orbiter will be placed in an orbit of 500 x 80,000 km around Mars and will have a provision to carry nearly 25 kg of scientific payload on- board”.
The Budget for 2012-13 also provides an allocation of Rs. 60.46 crore for ISRO’s human spaceflight programme and Rs. 170 crore for its plans to put in place a regional navigation satellite system for the Indian sub-continent on the lines of the U.S.-operated Global Positioning System.
Besides, the Chandrayaan-II mission to moon, which is planned to be launched in 2014-15, has been provided Rs. 82.50 crore. The amount also includes some allocation for the Chandrayaan-I mission.
Keywords: ISRO Mars Mission, Chandrayaan - 2, Budget 2012-13
Good news and it will help to develop scientific thoughts among our Indian young minds. So let them start forgetting their caste and religion, but starts to think of our country and, in fact, it is timely needed for our fast growing India. So let us wish for the success of the mission. In the mean time I am sorry to find some comments relating mars mission with poverty and malnourishment. The government is spending a lot for the improvement of poverty, but it is not reaching the poor people. Everyone can simply understand that it is not related with mars mission. If one really wants to remove poverty then we must develop a correcuption free country and that issue is not all related with mars mission. Even some argue about our technology limitation. It is very funny; to have such thoughts because those are all challenges and we will overcome them very soon. Moreover it is also a different issue.
First off congratulations to Indian Space Community for this decision. It is certainly a worthy project to undertake, not just for pride (which is the lesser aspect of this), but knowledge and know-how gained in using the PSVL for farther planets and gaining data from that. Scientific knowledge and work related is going to create value so any money spent is going to quadruple and generate more value. Please do not confuse poverty with what we spend on science and technology.
It is absurd to talk about “MARS” when ISRO has still not perfected
the GSLV! ISRO should first build the rockets before it dreams of MARS
or Jupiter. What is the point of dreaming about Mars and other planets
when ISRO has to beg the Russians or the French to launch heavy
satellites into orbit because its own GSLV program has repeatedly seen
failures ?? I am all in support of a mission to Mars or Alpha Centauri
but ONLY if we have the basic technologies! The Americans were able to
put a man on the moon in 1960s but today ISRO doesn’t even have the
technology NASA had in 1960s because it can’t design a rocket powerful
enough. Even the Japanese, the Chinese and the Koreans are building
rockets that are better than GSLV, it is high time ISRO focus on
“basics” before aiming for MARS.
This is the status of the Mars project as reported
"ISRO sources added that the preparations for the mission would begin
soon and that the payloads would be decided at the earliest as it was
looking at the first launch window. Though the payloads are yet to be
decided, the Mars orbiter is likely to be 25 kg."
and still we say that this will be good scientific mission to be
launched in November 2013!!! We can definitely rig up something and
launch it. Typically such pure scientific missions have much longer
gestation period for maximizing their usefulness for science goals.
Unless its aim is 2014 parliament polls
As usual, 'why can't we spend money on the poor/education etc etc'.
What makes you think we cannot do BOTH?
Compared to the cost of white elephant projects like the UID and NREGS 125 crores is peanuts.
Aiming for Mars is a good thing but what is the need for India now? If one argues, that India has not done anything great in attracting bright minds to ISRO and they are trying to get the attention of people by these mission. I believe they are wrong. Learn from your own competitors and collaborators.
Why don't they spend money and improve their visibility among younger generation at schools and colleges? For instance, NASA conducts talent hunt at school level in India and other countries. Has India ever tried something like that within its student population? If yes, how many are visible to wider audience. Kindly spend money to set your infrastructure, visibility and basics right and then aim for missions like these is my humble suggestion.
Dear friends
If poverty and malnourishment in india can be removed by 128 crore or infact 2800 crores, which is the totaly yearly budget of isro (may be less than that) then i agree we should not have a sapce agency infact. think about it .....even if you provide lakhs of crores you will always find poverty and malnourishment in india ..Please do not post such stupid things again ..Proud to be indian and be proud of ISRO
Good news.
If there is one area which needs to be taken care of above everything
else, it's science and tech. The only way to fight the evils of our
country is instill scientific thought process in the new generation, to
make them think rationally and scientifically. And youngsters can be
inspired to do so only if our premier institutes like ISRO et al.
achieve excellence in their fields; and the govt.'s adequate support is
one of the pre-conditions for that.
excellent news!when all other space agencies struggling with their budgets, this will be a shot in the arm for isro
P.S they should use some of that money to upgrade their awful website
I will not be short-sighted. I have consumed the most imporatant resource of the indian society - education.
So I use my skills I learned at university and take a holistic view of this decision (you know, my immediate reaction after reading was - what? 128 crores for Mars orbiter? are you nuts? we have thousands malnourished of people to look after, and bring them above poverty line...) If this mission will help Indian science get recognition world-wide and also help make money for ISRO (so that such projects in near future become self sustainable, self financed) then its good for India and humanity.
we need to encourage science and only government can take make big investments in science and tech.
When we start launching more satellites for foreign countries and use PSLV more then the technology will have paid for the investment govt made today. It would create a climate conducive for scientific thoughts to thrive in India. India will inch closer to becoming a world power then.
The allocated funds for ISRO are meagre reflecting our mediocre ambitions.
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