India’s spacecraft on target to reach Mars

NEW DELHI (AFP) ― An Indian spacecraft is on course to reach Mars, an official said Monday, following a 666 million-kilometer voyage that could see New Delhi’s low-cost space program win Asia’s race to the Red Planet.

The 350-ton rocket carrying an unmanned probe is set to enter Mars’ orbit next week after 10 months in space.

It is India’s first mission to the planet to search for evidence of life.

Indian Space Research Organization official Koteswara Rao said the rocket has traveled almost 666 million kilometers since its launch from the southern spaceport of Sriharikota last November.

“India will be the first country in the world to insert a spacecraft into the Martian orbit in a maiden attempt if the operation succeeds,” ISRO scientific secretary V. Koteswara Rao told reporters.

“And also the first Asian country to reach the Red Planet’s sphere,” Rao said.

Rao said the rocket’s engines will be “woken up” to allow for a “course correction” on Sunday before its arrival on Sept. 24.

ISRO scientists will also slow down the craft now traveling at 22.2 kilometers per second to 2.14 meters per second to allow for a smoother entry into the planet’s orbit.

The cost of the project, at 4.5 billion rupees ($70 million), is a fraction of the $671 million NASA spacecraft that also launched last year and is expected to arrive within days of the Indian craft.

India has never before attempted inter-planetary travel.

More than half of all missions to Mars have ended in failure, including China’s in 2011 and Japan’s in 2003.

Only the United States, Russia and the European Space Agency have been successful.

The Mars Orbiter Mission was revealed only 15 months ago by the previous prime minister.

The timing and place of the announcement ― in an Independence Day speech ― led to speculation India was seeking to make a point to China, despite denials from ISRO.

The gold-colored probe, the size of a small car, will aim to detect methane in the Martian atmosphere, which could provide evidence of some sort of life form on the fourth planet from the sun.