<p>“A Mars mission is very much on our agenda, and we will be charting out our plans soon,” ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said on Monday, hinting at a 2013-2015 schedule for the far more ambitious space programme.<br /><br />Speaking to journalists at an international conference on planetary missions in Goa, Nair said the potential for creating a living environment on Mars had always intrigued scientists. “We would like to study these things,” he said. The Mars programme would be taken up after the second lunar mission.<br /><br />Powering spacecraft on missions further from the sun was the biggest challenge to space exploration in the future, Nair said, adding that India had pioneered the concept of low-cost planetary missions because of its innovative approach to design and testing.<br /><br />The country’s low wage structure also helped reduce costs in contrast to missions undertaken by advanced nations, Nair added.<br /></p>
<p>“A Mars mission is very much on our agenda, and we will be charting out our plans soon,” ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said on Monday, hinting at a 2013-2015 schedule for the far more ambitious space programme.<br /><br />Speaking to journalists at an international conference on planetary missions in Goa, Nair said the potential for creating a living environment on Mars had always intrigued scientists. “We would like to study these things,” he said. The Mars programme would be taken up after the second lunar mission.<br /><br />Powering spacecraft on missions further from the sun was the biggest challenge to space exploration in the future, Nair said, adding that India had pioneered the concept of low-cost planetary missions because of its innovative approach to design and testing.<br /><br />The country’s low wage structure also helped reduce costs in contrast to missions undertaken by advanced nations, Nair added.<br /></p>
