NEW DELHI — India will launch its first mission to Mars this year, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday.
"Several space missions are planned for 2013, including India's first mission to Mars and the launch of our first navigational satellite,'' Mukherjee told parliament.
India will send a satellite in October via an unmanned spacecraft to orbit the red planet, blasting off from the southeastern coast in a mission expected to cost about $83 million.
The spacecraft, which will be made in India, will take nine months to reach Mars.
"The mission is ready to roll,'' Deviprasad Karnik, a scientist from the India Space Research Organisation (ISRO), said by phone from the city of Bangalore.
India's space exploration program began in 1962. Five years ago, its Chandrayaan satellite found evidence of water on the moon. India is now looking at landing a wheeled rover on the moon in 2014.
India's mission to Mars has drawn criticism because the country is suffering from high levels of malnutrition and power shortages, and is currently experiencing its worst slowdown in growth in ten years.
adapted from Reuters
Photo Credits: NASA
