ISRO releases Mars atlas to mark Mangalyaan's first birthday in space

Bengaluru: India's Mars Orbiter spacecraft 'Mangalyaan' completed one year in the Red Planet Thursday and to mark the occasion, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has released a 'Mars atlas' in Bengaluru.

Celebrating one year of Mars Orbiter Mission in Orbit; Release of Mars Atlas - See more at: http://t.co/adZ75gYyDJ pic.twitter.com/YUOKFFa3lO

— ISRO (@isro) September 24, 2015

The Mars atlas, which is in a form of scientific atlas, contains a compilation of images acquired by Mars Colour Camera (MCC) and results obtained by other payload of the spacecraft.

India's Mars spacecraft has sent back many stunning images of the Red Planet that provide unique information about Mars at varying spatial resolutions.

The spacecraft has obtained Mars Global data showing clouds, dust in atmosphere and surface albedo variations, when acquired from apoapsis at around 72000 km.

On the other hand, high resolution images acquired from periapsis show details of various morphological features on the surface of Mars, said ISRO.

Some of these images have been showcased in this atlas. The images have been categorized depending upon the Martian surface and atmospheric processes.

Mangalyaan, which is India's maiden mission to the Red Planet, is expected to last many years as the spacecraft still has about 35 kg of fuel left.

The Indian space agency will also be bringing out a book, 'Fishing hamlet to Mars' on November 5 to mark the anniversary of Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), whose success has boosted India's global standing as a space power.

Mars is one of the closest celestial objects to the Earth and it has attracted humans towards itself since the time immemorial. A large number of unmanned orbiters, landers and rovers have been launched to reach Mars since early 1960s.

India's MOM spacecraft was designed, built and launched in record period of less than two years. It carries five science instruments for collecting data on surface geology, morphology, atmospheric processes, surface temperature and atmospheric escape process.

On September 24, 2014, India had successfully inserted its low-cost Mars spacecraft into the Martian orbit on its very first attempt, breaking into an elite club of three nations.

ISRO launched the Mars Orbiter spacecraft on a homegrown PSLV rocket from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on November 5, 2013.

The Rs 450-crore Mangalyaan is the cheapest inter-planetary mission that, at just USD 74 million, costs less than the estimated USD 100 million budget of the sci-fi blockbuster 'Gravity' and a tenth of NASA's Mars mission Maven that entered the Martian orbit couple of days before MOM.