BANGALORE, India’s probe India.- Mangalyaan now entered Mars orbit, making the Asian country to the fourth power that manages to reach the red planet, said Indian Space Research Organization ( ISRO).
The first Mars probe in India, started on November 5 Earth and has traveled 670 miles in 300 days. Scientists at the center of mission control of the city of Bangalore erupted in applause and gestures of joy, as local television showed NDTV.
The Mangalyaan satellite of Mars -Vehicle study the surface topography and planet’s atmosphere and will focus on the search for methane, one of the indicators of the existence of life.
The rockets stopped this local morning the probe for 24 minutes until he was caught by the gravity of Mars.
The Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, who witnessed the historic moment in the control center, said his country has achieved “almost impossible”. “The odds were against us. Among the 51 missions that have been launched so far only 21 were successful. We have achieved,” the president said at the ISRO scientists.
The Indian leader said that the amount devoted to this mission was less than the cost of sci-fi “Gravity” (the Mexican Alfonso Cuarón) produced in Hollywood, estimated at $ 100 million.
The Indian probe is equipped with sensors to measure the presence of methane gas in the Martian atmosphere, which credited the hypothesis of the existence of a primitive life on this planet.
India joins the United States, Russia and the European Space Agency in the conquest of Mars. The Japanese attempt in 2003 and the Chinese in 2011 were full failures.
The American space agency NASA congratulated the ISRO for its success. “We congratulate the ISRO for its arrival at Mars! MarsOrbiter joins missions studying Mars,” wrote NASA on his Twitter account.
In fact, the American lunar probe Maven entered ago two days in Mars orbit. The Indian mission has a cost of $ 74 million and has been developed in a record 15 months time by 1000 scientists, according to the ISRO.
In Maven opposed the US satellite It cost $ 670 million, although it is a more powerful mission and carry out further studies. India has one of the world’s most active space programs, with the release of far more than 100 missions since its inception a little over half a century.
last July launched the first satellite navigation system similar to the American Global Positioning System (GPS) itself, which will be operational in 2015 The India, which in 2008 sent its first lunar probe, plans to launch in 2016 its first manned space mission.
The spacecraft will circle the orbit of Mars for six months, at a distance of 500 km the surface of the planet. However, NASA’s Curiosity robot, which arrived at Mars in 2012, did not detect the presence of methane gas which is often a sign of biological activity, according to a study published in September 2013.
success strengthens the technological and industrial reputation of India, which produces among others the world’s cheapest car, and wins as a leader of innovation at low cost.
The Indian space mission was designed according to the principle the “jugaad”, a typically Indian, who could approach the (French) “System D”, and that is to find the most ingenious and less expensive solution possible at a time.
Even the rocket that propelled the Mars Orbiter, golden color and the size of a small car, was considered underpowered for this mission.
Car AFP, Reuters and AP .
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