NEW DELHI (AP) – With home-grown technology and a remarkably low budget of about $75 million, India was on course to become the first nation to conduct a successful Mars mission on its first try.
If the Mars Orbiter Mission, affectionately nicknamed MOM, settles into orbit on Wednesday morning as planned, the country will join the U.S., European Space Agency and the former Soviet Union in the elite club of Martian explorers.
The next few hours will be crucial as the Indian Space and Research Organisation commands a series of maneuvers to position the spacecraft in its designated orbit around Mars.
“We have to excel,” space agency chief K. Radhakrishnan said, adding that the mission would “establish the capabilities of India to orbit a spacecraft around Mars.”
If India can pull it off, it would be a major feat for the developing country of 1.2 billion people, most of which are poor. At the same time, India has a robust scientific and technical education system that has produced millions of software programmers, engineers and doctors.