Google doodle celebrates one month of India’s Mars mission

Google on Friday chose to record the Indian Mars Orbiter Mission’s one month in orbit around Mars with one of its popular doodles.

The doodle for October 24 shows the spacecraft with part of Mars in the background.

Soon, on November 5, it will also be time to celebrate the mission’s anniversary since it was launched.

IANS adds:

In its very first attempt, India’s Mars Orbiter Mission traversed over 650 million km through deep space for over nine months to successfully reach the planet’s orbit.

Launched Nov 5, 2013, from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh with the powerful Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), India’s first inter-planetary mission entered the Martian orbit Sep 24.

The 475-kg (dry mass) Orbiter will study the Red Planet’s surface and mineral composition and scan its atmosphere for methane gas in search of life-sustaining elements.

India became the first Asian country to have entered the Martian orbit, as a similar mission by China failed in 2011.