A father and his daughter look at information about Mars on a poster put up at the Nehru Planetarium as a special preview on India’s maiden Mars Orbiter Mission, in Bangalore yesterday.
By Jason Burke/ Guardian News Service/New Delhi
It is leading TV bulletins, on the front pages, in the prayers of temple priests and even on special e-mails sent out to parents of exclusive nursery schools in Delhi. But the one place the satellite has yet to reach is the orbit of Mars, its final destination.
Those running India’s first Mars mission hope this will happen at 7.30am local time today. Failure is almost inconceivable. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in the control room of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Bangalore as the rocket bearing the satellite attempts to enter the orbit of the Red Planet. Tens of millions of people across the country are expected to follow the progress of the craft live.
The mission’s climax comes days before Modi heads to the US to deliver his maiden address to the UN General Assembly and to meet President Barack Obama. If the mission succeeds, India will be the first nation to get a rocket to Mars on its first attempt, and the first in Asia to reach Mars at all.
“Just getting there is a big, bold statement. Succeeding would be a giant one about India’s place in the region and in the world,” said Pallava Bagla, a high-profile science commentator.
Mangalyaan, which means “Mars craft” in Hindi, took off from the island of Shriharikota, off India’s eastern coast, 10 months ago. The 1,350kg device first headed for an elliptical orbit around Earth, after which a series of manoeuvres and short burns of its rocket engines sent it on towards Mars.
Scientists from ISRO successfully tested the main engine on Monday and performed a course correction that put the low-cost project on track to enter the Red Planet’s orbit. Experts said reducing the craft’s speed from its current rate of 22km per second would be a key challenge.
“It has covered 98% of the distance but the last 2% is the tricky bit. If it is too fast it will fly by Mars and be lost in space. If it is too slow it will crash into the planet,” said Bagla.
Some have questioned the $70m price tag for a country still dealing with widespread hunger and poverty. But India defended the Mars mission by noting its importance in providing hi-tech jobs for scientists and engineers and practical applications in solving problems on Earth.
Last year the UK allotted £80mn to developing joint space missions with China and India. Modi aims to establish India as a bigger player in the $300bn space technology market, even as neighbouring China gives stiff competition with its bigger launchers.
Commentators said India could go further. “We have a threshold capability but we don’t go beyond that for the simple reasons that our economy is not doing well. The model is very successful, the space guys have done outstanding work but we are just not investing enough,” said Manoj Joshi, a Delhi-based analyst.
