ENARADA, Bhubaneshwar, September 6, 2013:
Hectic preparations are on to launch the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s ambitious Mars Orbiter Mission in November 2013, said Prof. U. R. Rao, Chairman, PRL Council of the Department of Space, Govt. of India at KIIT University on September 6, 2013.
The unmanned mission, which will explore the existence of life and the possibility of sustaining life on Mars, will travel 299 days in space before reaching the Red Planet in September 2014, he informed. The Mars Orbiter Mission will be sent through powerful PSLV-XL launch vehicle.
Prof. U. R. Rao, who led the country’s space programme between 1984 and 1994 as chairman, ISRO, was delivering a talk to the students and faculty of KIIT University on “Existing Challenges in Space Programmes of Future”.
Country’s space programme has crossed notable milestones, he stated, informing that it was Chandrayaan-1 of India that first discovered water on Moon.
The country spends Rs.3148 cr. on space programme per year and has a 16,500 strong human resource expertise, he said, while outlining 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.
