India's Mars Orbiter Mission is being considered as a well thought-out and a key milestone. Former ISRO Chairman K. Kasturirangan said that it will help boost New Delhi's credentials to join future collaborative international deep-space missions.
"I think it's a very major, key milestone for ISRO's efforts to push the frontiers of research in space science to the deeper reaches of solar system," he said.
The well-known space scientist also said that the success of this venture will establish India as an active partner in the collaborative framework of international missions.
"If the mission becomes successful, it would certainly put India among a select league of countries who had succeeded in sending a craft to Mars and, in a sense, will address all the problems that ultimately one has to overcome when you take up future deep-space missions not only to the Mars but to other planets of the Solar System", Kasturirangan said.
The main objective of this mission is very simple. It is to demonstrate India's technological capability to send a craft to orbit around Mars. This will later help in conducting meaningful experiments, of which looking for signs of life is one. The craft will also take pictures of the Red Planet and study the Martian environment.
Bangalore-based ISRO said the Rs 150 crore (approx. $25 million), 1350kg MOM spacecraft would be launched by the Rs 110 crore ($18 million) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C25) from Sriharikota spaceport,on Tuesday.
The satellite will be a carrier of compact science experiments which totals the mass of 15Kg/five instruments. These instruments will help in studying the Martian surface, mineralogy and atmosphere.
