India to launch Mars mission next year

March 16, 2012 08:38 pm | Updated November 29, 2021 01:12 pm IST - NEW DELHI

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.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.