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India Mars Mission mid-course correction successful
December 11, 2013, 5:12 am

The $73 million mission aims to explore Mars surface features, morphology, mineralogy and search for methane in the Martian atmosphere using indigenous scientific instruments [AP]

The $73 million mission aims to explore Mars surface features, morphology, mineralogy and search for methane in the Martian atmosphere using indigenous scientific instruments [AP]

India’s maiden Mars mission, Mangalyaan, successfully completed its first mid-course correction Wednesday morning, the state-owned Indian space agency said.

“The mid-course correction was done some 2.9 million km away from Earth. The spacecraft was first re-oriented and then its smaller rockets fired to make the operation successful,” Indian Space Research Organization said in a statement on Wednesday.

Mangalyaan has now entered an uncharted territory for the space agency as no Indian spacecraft has ever traveled so far away, he added.

India launched its first mission to the Red Planet this November, which is likely to reach its destination in September 2014.

The $73 million mission aims to explore Mars surface features, morphology, mineralogy and search for methane in the Martian atmosphere using indigenous scientific instruments.

If successful, it would be the first Asian mission to reach the red planet. It would also induct India into a small club, which includes the United States, Europe and Russia, whose probes have orbited or landed on Mars.

 

Source: Agencies