New Delhi: Twelve years after India made history with the launch of Mangalyaan, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced that the nation will attempt to land on Mars for the first time. The Mangalyaan-2 mission is scheduled for launch in 2030, ISRO Chairman Dr V Narayanan confirmed during an address.
The original Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), launched on November 5, 2013, established India as the first Asian nation to reach Martian orbit and the first country ever to do so on its maiden attempt. The spacecraft, which operated for more than seven years, provided invaluable data on Mars’ atmosphere, mineral composition, and surface imaging before communications ended in 2022.
The new mission aims to deploy both an orbiter and a lander, with the possibility of adding a small rover. ISRO is focusing on developing advanced propulsion, navigation, and landing systems capable of surviving the thin Martian atmosphere and ensuring a precise touchdown on the planet’s surface.
If successful, Mangalyaan-2 would place India among a select group of spacefaring nations that have landed on Mars — joining the United States, China, and the former Soviet Union.
NISAR to be declared operational
Meanwhile, NASA and ISRO were all set to declare their first-ever jointly developed NISAR satellite operational. The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), said to be the most expensive Earth observation satellite ever built, has the ability to monitor most of the planet’s land and ice surfaces twice every 12 days. The 2,400 kg NISAR satellite was launched on July 30 from ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre using the GSLV rocket.
