Mars: mission possible after 2015
India will embark on an unmanned mission to Mars after 2015, a senior space official said this week.
A senior space research official told reporters that a mission to the Red Planet would not be feasible before 2015 as the space agency would be occupied with the launch of its second lunar mission (Chandrayaan-2) in 2013 and a manned mission to space in 2015.
The official, who did not want to be named, was clarifying an earlier statement by made by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G Madhavan Nair at Panaji.
"We plan to undertake missions to Mars and other planets as part of our long-term space expeditions. We will ask the scientific community to propose the experiments to be carried on the Martian surface. We may also invite international space agencies to participate in the mission, as in Chandryaan-1," the official said.
As the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar system, the distance between Earth and Mars varies from 36 million miles when nearest, to 250 million miles when farthest in its elliptical orbit around the sun.
Although the Government sanctioned Rs100 million (Rs10 crore) as seed funding for the Mars mission, a lot of ground work has to be done for preparing the project report.
"The mission to Mars is being conceived as low-cost planetary missions. For instance, Chandrayaan-1 is the finest example of a low-cost mission, as we were able accomplish it at a cost of $80 million (Rs.380 crore) while such missions by other space agencies are considered low-cost at $500 million," the official said.
"It is too early to talk about the mission's journey as we are yet to design the spacecraft and build the advanced version of the rocket (GSLV-3). We have a long way to go," the space official added.
Incidentally, the maiden moon mission was aborted on Sunday after the space agency's deep space network at Byalalu, about 40km from Bangalore, failed to restore radio contact with the 514kg spacecraft, which is orbiting about 200km away from the lunar surface.
Though the US and Russia had launched missions to Mars, other space-faring nations such as China and Japan are planning to join the Martian race as part of their planetary expeditions. Even the European Space Agency (ESA) is mulling a joint mission to Mars in the coming decade.
The US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) last week proposed to Russia for a manned mission to Mars by 2030, using the International Space Station (ISS) as a launch-pad to the Red Planet.
Source: Silicon India
India will embark on an unmanned mission to Mars after 2015, a senior space official said this week.
A senior space research official told reporters that a mission to the Red Planet would not be feasible before 2015 as the space agency would be occupied with the launch of its second lunar mission...
India will embark on an unmanned mission to Mars after 2015, a senior space official said this week.
A senior space research official told reporters that a mission to the Red Planet would not be feasible before 2015 as the space agency would be occupied with the launch of its second lunar mission (Chandrayaan-2) in 2013 and a manned mission to space in 2015.
The official, who did not want to be named, was clarifying an earlier statement by made by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G Madhavan Nair at Panaji.
"We plan to undertake missions to Mars and other planets as part of our long-term space expeditions. We will ask the scientific community to propose the experiments to be carried on the Martian surface. We may also invite international space agencies to participate in the mission, as in Chandryaan-1," the official said.
As the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar system, the distance between Earth and Mars varies from 36 million miles when nearest, to 250 million miles when farthest in its elliptical orbit around the sun.
Although the Government sanctioned Rs100 million (Rs10 crore) as seed funding for the Mars mission, a lot of ground work has to be done for preparing the project report.
"The mission to Mars is being conceived as low-cost planetary missions. For instance, Chandrayaan-1 is the finest example of a low-cost mission, as we were able accomplish it at a cost of $80 million (Rs.380 crore) while such missions by other space agencies are considered low-cost at $500 million," the official said.
"It is too early to talk about the mission's journey as we are yet to design the spacecraft and build the advanced version of the rocket (GSLV-3). We have a long way to go," the space official added.
Incidentally, the maiden moon mission was aborted on Sunday after the space agency's deep space network at Byalalu, about 40km from Bangalore, failed to restore radio contact with the 514kg spacecraft, which is orbiting about 200km away from the lunar surface.
Though the US and Russia had launched missions to Mars, other space-faring nations such as China and Japan are planning to join the Martian race as part of their planetary expeditions. Even the European Space Agency (ESA) is mulling a joint mission to Mars in the coming decade.
The US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) last week proposed to Russia for a manned mission to Mars by 2030, using the International Space Station (ISS) as a launch-pad to the Red Planet.
Source: Silicon India
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