New Mars Mission Still In "Study Phase," Says ISRO Scientist

The second mission to Mars is in the study phase as the Indian space agency is looking at various options available to make the mission happen, a senior ISRO scientist said on Thursday.

The Mars mission has to be bigger with a more scientific outcome, M Sankaran, Director, of UR Rao Satellite Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told PTI.

"If you are talking about a new mission to Mars, then that is still in the study phase. We are looking at various options available to us for making a mission happen. It has to be significantly bigger or with more scientific outcomes with respect to Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM). We are still in the study phase and we are configuring it," Sankaran told PTI.

India successfully launched its first Mars Orbiter Mission called Mangalyaan on November 5, 2013, which started orbiting the red planet on September 24, 2014. The orbiter lost contact in October 2022 and thus the Mangalyaan-1 mission came to an end.

Regarding Chandrayaan-3, he said the lunar spacecraft had already reached the launch port.

"The preparation is going on in Sriharikota. We do expect that sometime in July the launch will take place," he said.

According to the space scientist, every aspect of the mission has been checked, especially those experiences that ISRO gleaned from its Chandrayaan-2 mission.

"All possible precautions have been taken. The mood at ISRO is upbeat," he added.

Regarding India's space mission Gaganyaan, Sankaran said it was an intense project with a lot of new development activities taking place.

"Many developments and many tests are happening, which is not visible to the public. Lots of works are going on. We do expect that there will be something which will be visible to people during this year," he added.

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