BANGALORE: The Mars Orbiter is scheduled to reach the Red Planet in a few days and the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium has already started celebrating India’s march to Mars.
The fest, which was inaugurated on Wednesday by Minister for IT/BT and Science and Technology S R Patil and space scientist U R Rao, will go on till October 12. The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft is expected to enter the Martian orbit on Wednesday.
The fest includes an exhibition of more than 50 posters depicting the various stages of planning and execution of the mission.
On Wednesday, Patil, Rao and B R Guruprasad, PRO of ISRO, visited the poster exhibition and interacted with children. “This is a momentous occasion for India and we will be the first Asian country to achieve this in our maiden attempt if we put the orbiter into the Mars orbit. I wish ISRO great success,” the Minister said.
Prof Rao said a major challenge for ISRO would be firing the Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) on board Mangalyaan on Monday, to ensure that it is in working condition.
Free Entry
Entry to the exhibition, which will feature models of rockets used for Chandrayaan, Mangalyaan and other missions, is free.
Children can participate in workshops on building Mars rovers and watch a show, ‘Mars-The Red Planet’, at the sky-theatre.
The sky-theatre shows will be at 12.30 pm and 4.30 pm on all days and there will be additional shows at 1.30 pm and 5.30 pm on Sundays.
The planetarium will be closed on Mondays, every second Tuesday and on festivals.