The groundbreaking announcement of demonetization of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes were followed up by the issue of new Rs. 2000 note. What has found mention in the new Rs. 2000 note is the Mangalyaan, ISRO’s venture to the red planet. The pictures taken by the low-cost camera on the Mangalyaan finds mention on the cover of the National Geographic magazine.
It is a welcome relief to ISRO which is working great and that too on a shoestring budget. The total cost of the spacecraft to the Red Planet was less than the budget of the blockbuster Hollywood flick “Gravity.”
Mangalyaan project is a coup when it comes to the cost of launching such a mission. India created history when it placed its spacecraft to orbit the red planet in its first attempt. In fact, more than 50 missions which preceded Mangalyaan’s epic journey could not give such high-quality pictures of the planet taken by Mangalyaan. The original mission cost just 450 crores and was to last for six months. However, the mission has already completed three years now. The picture which was featured on the front cover of the National Geographic Magazine was the photo taken by the Mars Orbiter which showed the full disk of Mars.
The Mars orbiter is one the most ambitious projects which were taken by ISRO. It was launched three years back and after a long journey reached the red planet on 24th September 2014. The satellite has been tasked to examine Mars from various angles and send information and photographs of the Planet to ISRO. The craft was scheduled to work only for six months but amazingly is still very much active and posting high-quality pictures back to its command center in Hassan. The spacecraft is in is an egg-shaped orbit and is capable of capturing full-disk color images of Mars.
