Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet recently expanded its Outer Space budget and added ambitious new plans to put in on par with the top nations of the world. Starting with crewed missions, going on the a lunar sample return project, a satellite to orbit the planet Venus, ...
India's Mars Probe Completes 1,000 Days in Orbit
Originally designed to last only six months, India's Mars Orbiter Mission, also known as Mangalyaan, completed 1,000 earth days in orbit around the Red Planet, exceeding all expectations of the $74 million mission. Launched by state-owned Indian Space Research Organization on November 5, 2013, Mangalyaan entered Mars' orbit on September 24,...
French Space Agency, India's ISRO to Collaborate on Mars Mission
Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the French space agency, signed a letter of intent with the Indian Space Research Organization for French participation in the next Mars mission, with plans for launch in 2018. Jean-Yves Le Gall, president of CNES, said in an interview with Business Insider, “We know the...
India Heads to Mars
At 2:38 PM on Tuesday November 5 Indian Standard Time, India’s maiden mission to Mars took off from the Satish Dhavan Space Center (SHAR) in Sriharikota on the Bay of Bengal. It was just two days after the moonless night of Deepawali (or Diwali), the festival which Indian celebrate with...