Hectic preparations are on to launch the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) ambitious Mars Orbiter Mission in November 2013, said Chairman, PRl Council of the Department of Space, Government of India Prof UR Rao here on Friday.
The unmanned mission, which would explore existence of life and the possibility of sustaining life on Mars, would travel 299 days in space before reaching the Red Planet in September 2014, he informed. The Mars Orbiter Mission would be sent through a powerful PSlV-Xl launch vehicle, he added.
Prof Rao, who led the country's space programme between 1984 and 1994 as the Chairman of ISRO, was delivering a talk to the students and faculty of the KIIT University on "Existing challenges in space programmes of future".
The country's space programme has crossed notable milestones, he stated, informing that it was the Chandrayaan-1 of India that first discovered water on Moon. The country spends Rs 3,148 crore on space programme per year and has a 16,500-strong human resource expertise, he said. He outlined the nine challenges for the space programme as food security, energy security, environmental security, resource security, space security, space transportation, search for life, exploring universe and colonisation of Mars.