The Mars Orbiter Mission probe is set to lift-off from First Launch Pad at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, using a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket at 2:36 PM on November 5, 2013. The launch window available is for about 20 days starting 28 October. This will be India's first mission to Mars. Read more
ISRO begins integrating payloads for 'Project Mars'
With the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) integrating payloads for the "Mars Orbiter Mission", India's plan to send a spacecraft to the red planet is inching towards reality. Read more
Mars Mission can see India emerge major power in science and technology
India's Mars Mission could see the country emerge as a 'major power' in science and technology if it turned out to be a success, a former ISRO scientist said here today. Read more
HAL hands over satellite structure for ISRO's Mars orbiter mission
The Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) has received the satellite structure for the Mars orbiter mission from the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited(HAL). Read more
ISRO on Sunday said its Mars Mission was aimed at learning more valuable lessons as a scientific community.
"We never raced with anybody. In space, science drives technological development and that will subsequently result in developing an application" - ISRO chief K. Radhakrishnan.
India Aims to Crack 'Methane Mystery' With Mars Mission
India's proposed mission to Mars in November next year will attempt to crack the "methane mystery", a veteran space scientist has hinted. Rao, Chairman of the selection committee which finalised experiments to be conducted vis-à-vis the Mars orbiter mission, said: "We have selected very good experiments. One of the experiments is essentially to look for methane...Where the methane comes from (what could be producing methane gas detected in the Martian atmosphere)." Read more
India has become the latest nation to unveil its ambition for a Mars mission. The country will place a small spacecraft in orbit around Mars in 2013, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced on 15 August. This is the latest in a series of highly ambitious announcements by the Indian government, which is ramping up its investment in all aspects of spaceflight. Read more
After a successful moon mission, the Union Cabinet gave the go-ahead to India's first mission to Mars. The Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday, cleared the proposal of Department of Space to put a satellite in an orbit around Mars to study the Red Planet, sources said. Read more
Four years after launching its maiden Moon mission, India has plans to launch a small unmanned satellite to Mars. Science writer Pallava Bagla reflects on what this means for India and the world. Read more