Indian spacecraft Mangalyaan successfully arrived at Mars orbit

"Our regiment arrived" - if the spacecraft could talk, then, probably, they would tell that to a friend. The fact is that today, at 5:47 am Moscow time, the process of launching the Mars satellite Mangalyaan has begun. The process lasted only 24 minutes, and the satellite successfully entered the desired orbit. When entering orbit, about 250 kilograms of fuel were burned. By the way, unlike China, with their “Jade Hare”, the name of the Indian satellite is less romantic. Mangalyaan means "Martian apparatus" - short and clear.

It is worth noting that India, thanks to the satellite, set several records at once. Firstly, now India is the first Asian country to join the exploration of Mars. Secondly, the cost of the satellite was only $ 74 million (for comparison, the American Maven satellite cost US taxpayers $ 671 million US dollars). Third, India is the first country to successfully launch the Martian spacecraft and deliver it to Mars from the very first attempt. And fourth, for India itself, this is the first spacecraft launched to another planet. Interestingly, just two days ago, the American satellite Maven successfully entered the orbit of Mars.
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Comparative Cost of Martian Missions

The main scientific mission of the device is to study the atmosphere of Mars, in order to determine the concentration of methane. Methane can indirectly indicate the existence of Mars in the past. In addition, the device will be engaged in mapping the surface of Mars, for mapping the Red Planet.

For India, an important goal was also to prove the ability of its scientists and engineers to design and ship the most complex device to another planet. This goal, as we see, has been achieved. How difficult the mission to Mars can be, is shown by the statistics of the success of launch projects: of 41 projects from different countries, 23 were unsuccessful for various reasons.



And a few more interesting facts about the "Indian space":

• The budget of the Indian space program is only 1 billion US dollars - a little more than 5% of the NASA budget;
• The average salary of a specialist from the space sector (it is clear that the average temperature in the hospital, but still) - 1000 US dollars;
• Preparation for the launch of the satellite (planning, design, implementation) took only 18 months. Other countries have a period of 60 months or more;
• The satellite did not have any prototypes, everything worked out practically from scratch.

A father and son are looking at a Mars Orbiter model in the Nehru Planetarium. Soon the Mangalyaan model will appear here.

Via wsj