Build a cheap Martian orbiter

1 Choose a short time period

Mangalyaan only took 15 months to build which, when you take into consideration that NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft took five years, saves costs in several departments of which the greatest cost is the people.

2 Use lightweight materials

The orbiter weighs only 1,337 kilograms (2,950 pounds) even with the five scientific instruments on board. This means that less fuel is needed to take it into space, also making the spacecraft more fuel efficient once there.

3 Make only one model

To avoid unnecessary costs the ISRO only constructed one physical model of Mangalyaan. This saved costs on unnecessary materials and labour time on models that wouldn't end up being used during the main mission.

4 Use home-made technologies and components

The ISRO utilised home-made materials as much as possible. Although it didn’t rule out the use of imports, it stated that home-grown components and technologies were made priority.