India on Tuesday launched its first mission to Mars from the Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh.
Mangalyaan, which means “Mars craft” in Hindi, lifted off at 2:38 pm from Sriharikota.
PSLV C-25 will put Mangalyaan weighing 1,340 kilograms in the earth orbit. To reach Mars, the spacecraft has to enter three phases, the earth centered phase, the helio centric phase and finally the Martian phase.
According to reports, Mangalyaan, the first inter-planetary mission to the red planet is primarily a technological machine.
It has been configured to carry out observations of the physical features of the Mars and also to carry out a limited study of the Martian atmosphere.
European Space Agency (ESA) of European consortium, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the US and Roscosmos of Russia are the only three agencies which have so far sent their missions to the red planet. (ANI)