`7 A KM FOR JOURNEY FROM EARTH TO MARS!
Picture this: Circa 2120. People trudge across long, dark caves to reach one building from another. Nothing unusual, except that these caves are below the Martian surface. And mapping these lengthy caves will figure on the top of the agenda of Indian space scientists who are planning to revisit Mars in 2020. “Everybody knows about these caves, but we must map them, because indications are that they run for miles and can accommodate an entire township with a population of 1,00,000. They are best suited for human settlements because they block harmful cosmic rays,” says Prof U.R. Rao, Chairman, Advisory Committee on Space Sciences (ADCOS), and former chairman ISRO, as he pores over proposals on scientific instruments likely to be flown on board MOM-2 (Mars Orbiter Mission-2), proposed for launch by ISRO in 2020.
There are other riddles about the Martian atmosphere as well which could be answered only if state-of-the-art instruments are flown onboard MOM-2, says Prof Rao who is not satisfied with discovery of some new chemicals by MOM besides the fact it was a technological feat achieved only by Indian space scientists — they placed a spacecraft close to the Red Planet in the first attempt.
“This time I want earth-shaking news about Mars from our mission, and we have enough time to plan our scientific studies and design very good instruments. If we can manufacture and launch so many advanced communication and remotesensing satellites, nothing stops us from designing stateof-the-art instruments,” he says. Unlike the first outing to Mars, which was restricted to participation by scientists and engineers of ISRO, the second shot at the Red Planet will witness scientists from R&D organisations across the country joining the mission as partners. The question of other countries adding instruments, just as they did on board Chandrayaan-I, has not been addressed by ISRO but Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, USA, has already indicated that it would like to add a payload on MOM-2 to constantly receive scientific data from Nasa’s rovers and landers. Nasa and ISRO have forged a cooperation on how MAVEN and MOM could complement scientific data on Mars, and help understand the Red Planet.
Space scientists said they won’t be surprised if they receive similar proposals from other space agencies as ISRO proved its technological competence by reaching Mars in the first attempt. Besides, they have managed to extend the life of MOM from six months to two-and-half years and counting. All this on a shoe-string budget of `450 crore or `7 a km for the long journey from terra firma to an orbit around Mars! And in case critics voice their concern again on whether India should spend so much on an expedition to Mars, Prof Rao and his colleagues have their retort ready: Does anyone know how much the country has earned thanks to space technology? And what would be the state of communication networks or disaster management systems if ISRO had not built and launched satellites? “We must compete in Science, and have our own data on Mars and other planets. Otherwise, we will end up paying large sums to other agencies for any data,” adds Prof Rao.