India’s Mars Mission: 8 years at the red planet comes to an end
The Mangalyaan space mission around the red planet comes to an end after eight years of scientific discoveries. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), India’s national space agency, announced that the space probe was in an unrecoverable state after running out of fuel for maneuvering. Without fuel for its thrusters, the probe cannot orient its solar panels towards the sun to generate power and aim its antenna at Earth for communications. It is possible the probe finally ran out of battery power and shut down.
The mission was built on a shoestring budget of $25 million, a tiny fraction compared to missions by the US and Russia. Launched in 2013, the probe was only expected to operate for six months but it kept going for almost eight years. It was also a remarkable achievement to launch to and successfully orbit around Mars on the first try.
More information on the mission and its milestones at the following links:
