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Interesting facts about India’s Mars Mission

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Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) mission to Mars

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has become one of the select few space research bodies to have successfully put its Mars Orbiter Mission (M.O.M.) into orbit of the red planet.

  1. This mission, dubbed Mangalyaan (“Mars Craft” in Sanskrit) puts India in the same league as the United States, Europe and Russia as having put a probe into the orbit of Mars.
  2. At a cost of just $74 million, the Mangalyann mission cost about 11% of NASA’s Maven mission, which came in at $670 million. It even cost less than the Hollywood movie Gravity ($100 million).
  3. Covering a distance of approximately 780 million kilometers, this journey to from Earth to Mars cost India about $0.094 per kilometer – cheaper than cabs in most places on Earth.
  4. The ongoing success rate for missions to Mars runs around 40%, with ISRO now being 1 for 1.
  5. The 1,350 kilogram payload of the Mars orbiter was launched from Earth by ISRO’s the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
  6. The Mars Orbiter Mission will focus its research on the following:

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Bonanza King drilling site on Mars

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Bonanza King NASA
Bonanza King drilling site on Mars

Curiosity Mars rover’s mast camera photographed a section of the pale rock outcrop that includes the “Bonanza King” target chosen for evaluation as the mission’s fourth rock-drilling site. This area is location in the northeastern end of “Hidden Valley” on Mars. The flat tile like rocks could contain mineral veins and other unknown materials.

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Martian landscape

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NASA
Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity captures the Martian landscape

The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity’s navigation camera (Navcam) took this picture of the martian landscape on the 3,749th day of the rover’s mission on Mars. This south looking picture  nicely captures windblown lines of sand on the surface and the western ridge of Endeavour Crater.  On this day’s drive, the rover covered 338 feet along the outer slope of the crater’s rim.

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Schiaparelli Crater on Mars

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Schiaparelli Crater - NASA
The many layers on the floor of the Schiaparelli Crater on Mars

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has been dutifully mapping and photographing the Mars surface since its arrival at the red planet in 2006. This picture shows the very shallow Schiaparelli Crater (named after Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli), which is a 460 kilometer (286 mile) wide structure on Mars. Most of the floor of the Schiaparelli crater is covered by a thin layer of dust, but in places where there are patches of dark sand, there is also well-exposed bedrock.

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Water on Mars?

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Mars rocks - NASA
These rock formations on Mars are believed to have water

The bright rocks in this picture of the Mars surface (taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) are believed by scientists to contain minerals that have water. Data from MRO’s scientific instrument known as the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) along with high-resolution images supplied by the HiRiSE platform were used to make this (still speculative) determination. This should help scientists further postulate and study the state of Mars’ past climate and geography.

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