The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is 100 per cent designed and developed in India.

Private partnerships

At least six ISRO labs collaborated with many private sector companies in the country to design and develop scientific equipment to deliver this sterling performance.

ISRO’s satellite, which has five scientific payloads, has travelled nearly 214 million km calculated under radio distance. Measured in heliocentric (solar) path, MOM has travelled nearly 660 million km. A proud ISRO official said: “The launch vehicle is ours, the satellite is ours. We have collaborated with the US, Spain and Australia only for transmission of satellite data to the earth.”

In addition to local talent in design and development, India has shown to the world that it can do the job and affordably too.

Only ₹450 crore spent

The cost of the Mars Orbiter Mission is put at ₹450 crore, which, according to the ISRO officer, is one-fifth of the money spent by the US and European space agencies.

European, American and Russian probes have managed to orbit or land on the planet, but after several attempts. The first Chinese mission to Mars, called Yinghuo-1, failed in 2011. Earlier in 1998, the Japanese mission ran out of fuel and was lost.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who watched the nerve-wracking final moments alongside top ISRO and other space scientists and Union ministers, was thrilled at the success and praised the indigenous talent and its success.

“We have gone beyond the boundaries of human enterprise and innovation. We have navigated our craft through a route known to very few,” he said.

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