Mangalyaan completes six months in Mars orbit today

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: India's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), lovingly called Mangalyaan on Tuesday completed six months in the red planet's orbit.

Previously it was estimated that India's first inter-planetary expedition will have a lifespan of 6 months, but now, it has emerged that the spacecraft has about 37 kilograms of fuel left, and hence the mission can last for few more days, weeks or even months.

India created history in space to become the first Asian country to reach the Red Planet and the first in the world to reach the Martian orbit on maiden attempt.

The Rs 450-crore project of India's Mars mission is the world's cheapest space mission. Launched on November 5, 2013 aboard PSLV rocket C25, Mangalyaan entered the Mars orbit on 24th September 2014.

After entering the Martian orbit, MOM had sent several pictures of the Red Planet including dust storm activities and of Phobos (the larger and closer of the two natural satellites of Mars). The pictures were released by the ISRO on its official Facebook and Twitter account.

(With Agency inputs)