India Launches Mars Orbiter

摘要

India this week sent an orbiter on a journey to Mars. The successful launch of Mangalyaan-meaning "Mars craft" in Hindi-is the culmination of a $72 million effort by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). "Capturing and igniting the young minds of India and across the globe will be the major return from this mission," mission director P. Kunhikrishnan told reporters on 5 November. Although aimed primarily at showcasing the country's technological prowess, the mission is also supposed to deliver science. The orbiter has six instruments on board that will image the martian surface, sniff the upper atmosphere for traces of methane, and measure the ratio of atmospheric deuterium to hydrogen to understand how the martian atmosphere thinned out over time.