Source: BBC
India’s space programme has succeeded at the first attempt where others have failed – by sending an operational mission to Mars.
The Mangalyaan satellite was confirmed to be in orbit shortly after 0800, Indian time. It is, without doubt, a considerable achievement.
This is a mission that has been budgeted at 4.5bn rupees ($74m), which, by Western standards, is staggeringly cheap.
The American Maven orbiter that arrived at the Red Planet on Monday is costing almost 10 times as much.
Back in June, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi even quipped that India’s real-life Martian adventure was costing less than the make-believe Hollywood film Gravity.
Even Bollywood sci-fi movies like Ra.One cost a good chunk of what it has taken to get Mangalyaan to Mars.
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Categories: Asia, Astronomy, India, Mathematics, Science and Technology
Quoting CNN Money
When the Mangalyaan spacecraft slipped into orbit around Mars on Wednesday after a 10-month voyage, India became the first country to successfully reach the Red Planet on its first attempt.
But the mission’s shoestring budget was perhaps its most notable distinction: At a cost of just $74 million, India’s space agency put the satellite into orbit for a fraction of what other nations have spent.
The U.S. Maven satellite, for example, arrived in orbit on Sunday in a mission that cost taxpayers $671 million. The European Space Agency’s 2003 mission to Mars had an initial budget of nearly $200 million.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has noted that even the Hollywood thriller “Gravity” had a larger budget at $100 million.
“Our scientists have shown the world, a new paradigm of frugal engineering, and the power of Imagination,” Modi said in June. “This success of ours has deep historical roots.”
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