Clearly impressed with the precise launch on Monday, President Pranab Mukherjee urged ISRO to launch the Mars Orbiter by this year. “Chandrayaan (the moon mission) made us proud and I am very confident of the first Indian inter-planetary venture, the Mars Orbiter Mission, being successful this year,” he said.
The Mars Orbiter, announced last August and approved by the government, is on everybody’s mind at ISRO, simply because a delay could set them back for a few years. After November 2013, Mars will not pass close to the Earth’s orbit till 2016 and 2018. This is why the space agency is looking to send the `450-crore Orbiter into space on the PSLV from Sriharikota.
ISRO is looking to better the almost jinxed history of Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) with their launches in the next two years. The President’s words of encouragement will do them a world of good. He said, “The entire nation is eagerly looking forward to the successful flight of GSLV, with the Indigenous Cryogenic Stage.”