India triumphed in its maiden Mars Mission as its spacecraft 'Magalyaan' successfully reached the red planet on its very first attempt on Wednesday, elevating country's position at par with elite nations in the global space race.
The high definition pictures of Mars were taken with the help of cameras onboard the satellite, revealing the type of terrain on the planet and are yet to be analysed by the Indian scientists. However, the overall mission aims to study Mars' surface and mineral composition, and scan its atmosphere for methane, a gas strongly tied to life on Earth.
Mars is the most explored planet among the eight planets of our Solar System. According to Skymet Meteorology Division in India, the prime reason behind its chase is to look for the signatories of any life or to determine whether life ever existed on the planet, since it is the most earth like. There were also indications that there was availability of water. Reportedly, few scientists also claim that life began on Mars.
ISRO’s low-cost mission crowned India as the first country to execute such a project in its first attempt. With this achievement, India joins a small group of Mars explorers - United States, Erstwhile USSR and European Space Agency- that have successfully sent probes to orbit or land on Mars. It is also the first Asian country to achieve the distinction, however, Asian giants, China and Japan had also attempted but failed.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was also present at the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network at Sriharikota on Wednesday, hailed the Indian scientists over the great achievement. Speaking to mediapersons, Modi said, “India has created history. We have dared to reach out into the unknown and achieved the near impossible.”
The Mars Orbit Missioner (MOM) costs roughly a tenth of NASA's Mars mission Maven that successfully entered Mars orbit on September 21.
Picture courtesy: ISRO