NEWS
At a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, the Cabinet cleared the proposal of the Department of Space to put a satellite in an orbit around Mars to study the Red Planet. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is expected to launch a Mars Orbiter as early as November next year with a 25-kg scientific payload. The Mars mission, which will study its atmosphere, will be launched by an extended version of ISRO’s warhorse rocket, the polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV). Scientific payloads have been shortlisted by ISRO’s Advisory Committee for Space Sciences (ADCOS) review committee.

VIEWS
The announcement regarding approva l by the government of ISRO’s Rs. 450 crore project to send a vehicle to orbit Mars in November 2013 coincides with two other noteworthy events related to space exploration. The first was the announcement by China of its plan to land a rover on the Moon in 2013 and the second the successful landing three days later of NASA’s ‘Curiosity’ on the Red Planet. While the mission to Mars would signify the crossing of a major milestone in India’s space endeavour which envisages its first manned mission in space in 2016, it has sparked a round of controversy as well. Those in support of the programme believe that it is only a natural progression and a stepping stone to success for India to attempt a mission to Mars after the success of Chandrayaan-I. Success in the mission to Mars would be an unparalleled achievement for the nation. It would demonstrate to the world India’s technological prowess, enhance its standing on the international stage and strengthen its credibility to participate in future international collaborative ventures in space exploration. As of today, with the exception of the US and Europe, no other country has been able to accomplish a mission to Mars successfully.

Critics of the Mars mission project hold that in a country with nearly 35 per cent of the population below the poverty line, high levels of malnutrition, mass illiteracy, poor health care and chronic power shortages, the nation can hardly afford to squander resources in this fashion especially when benefits of the staggering investments into exploration of deep space are intangible, not relevant to the pressing needs of the masses or have any practical applications to everyday life and are generally unconvincing. While this has been an oft repeated and standard refrain, somewhat surprisingly, opinion within the scientific community is also divided.

As per G. Madhavan Nair, former Chairman of ISRO, the Mars mission should not have been a priority at this stage for India. Instead, ISRO ought to have devoted time, energy and resources on qualifying the indigenous cryogenic engine to get the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) rocket operational again and impart momentum to the human space flight planned for 2016. ISRO has experienced repeated failures in the recent past with the GSLV and hence ought to focus on the GSLV-III to put payload of four tonnes in orbit which will be more useful.