India to launch Mars mission in 2013

09-18-2012 • http://www.france24.com, AFP

India plans to launch a space probe that will orbit Mars in November 2013, a senior official from the country's space research establishment said on Monday.

"We are scheduling to launch the Mars mission November 27, 2013 when the red planet will be closer to the earth," K. Radhakrishnan, chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told reporters in Bangalore.

"We plan to put a spacecraft in an elliptical orbit for studying its atmosphere and detect presence of life on its surface," he said in the southern Indian city, where ISRO is headquartered.

The project would mark another step in India's ambitious space programme, which placed a probe on the moon three years ago and envisages its first manned mission in 2016.

2 Comments in Response to India to launch Mars mission in 2013

Comment by Joseph Vanderville

Entered on: 9/18/2012 7:03:46 PM

What is India trying to prove -- sending and landing a mission to Mars -- when one of the world's most atrocious poverty is in India ...? Is the political leadership there really that crazy?

Comment by PureTrust

Entered on: 9/18/2012 9:14:33 AM

I wonder if India will have enough foresight and guts to intentionally "contaminate" Mars with plant spores, etc., to start terraforming. As long as they are planning a Mars shot, they might as well do it. We can't wait all century for Mars to become habitable. If we're going to settle her at all, we need to start the terraforming, NOW... especially with the present political climate we have here on Earth.

Do you think the U.S. Mars landers and rovers have started the terraforming already?

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