The first Indian Mars Orbiter spacecraft has to cover just 20 per cent of its journey to the red planet and about 60 days to go before it is put into an orbit around Mars on September 24.
The spacecraft, carrying five instruments and travelling for nearly eight months, is in the last laps and about 60 days from its celestial goal, ISRO said on its social media site.
On Tuesday, it was over 540 million km, half-circling the Sun as it hurtled towards Mars. “That is very close to a whopping 80 per cent of its journey. MOM and her payloads are in good health,” the update titled ‘80% - nearing Mars’ said. MOM stands for the Mars Orbiter Mission, which is estimated to have cost the country around Rs.450 crore.
The spacecraft was launched on November 5 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. After circling Earth many times and picking up speed, it left the Earth’s atmosphere on December 1 last.
