Mars mission closes in on tech pinnacle

India’s first Mars mission is a technology demonstrator — that Indian scientists can handle complex technological space missions on their own, that India now has the technology to reach outerspace and that the Indian scientific community is capable of creating and absorbing space technology of the highest order. 

The mission, if it succeeds on Wednesday by placing the orbiter in the Martian orbit, is a paradigm shift for Indian space programme — signalling that India is ready to handle inter-planetary missions, which is one of the goals in the India’s Space Vision for 2025 document.

The mission will begin at 4:17 am and conclude by 8:15 am in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Indian Space Telemetry and Tracking Command Network (Istrac), Peenya.

Two days earlier, Isro completed a successful firing of the spacecraft’s main engine for four seconds, confirming that the engine was doing well and would do well in the final firing that will put the orbiter in the Martian orbit.

The final firing lasts 24 minutes. If India succeeds, it will be the fourth space agency in the world to have launched a Mars mission and the first country in Asia and the world to reach Martian orbit in its very first attempt. Russia, America and Europe were unable to reach Martian orbit in the first attempt. 

The entire Isro team and people designated to operate commands will be present at Istrac.The success of the mission will act as a precursor to India’s aspiration to send more Mars missions, to recover capsules sent to space, to be able to send a manned mission to space and moon sometime in the future, and become an active contributor to the International Space Station, perhaps building its own space station.

This is not a fable, but a very realistic goal given that China has already achieved, having built some elements of its own space station. China has also demonstrated accurate docking of a capsule to its own station. China’s speed in space activity is also reason why India needs to succeed in the Mars mission. Interestingly, China’s Mars mission undertaken earlier could not make it as it crashed to the ground. India has gone beyond China in the Mars race with India’s orbiter already in the Martian Sphere of Influence.  

The need to have focussed, well-paying careers is a big motivation for Indian students to take up science and technology, and engineering. Many institutions and companies concerned with space, private and public, would get high value contracts,  but the vital experience of handling space technology.