Nov. 5, 2013 |  Launched date

Sept. 23, 2014, | Mars Orbit Insertion: Entered into Mars orbit 300 days after the launch date.

CHEAPER than NASA’s mission:

Cost of India’s Mangalyan Mission: $74M (450 Rs crores)

Cost of NASA’s Maven Mission: $671M (almost 10% more than India’s cost)

Creating history, ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) successfully entered the orbit of the red planet. With this, India has become the first nation in the world to have entered the Mars orbit in the first attempt. ISRO’s MOM is also the cheapest such mission till now.
European, US, and Russian probes have managed to orbit or land on the planet, but after several attempts.

Has anyone noticed the satellite image and the word Mangalyan written on the backside of the Rs 2000 currency note? This explains how prestigious the government took the success of the Mangalyan mission. This is India’s first interplanetary mission. I think India is the only nation that reached the planet Mars on its first attempt. Also, India is the fourth country to reach Mars beside the USA, Russia and the European space agency. Both Russia and the US failed in their maiden attempts. The first Chinese mission to Mars failed in 2011 alongside the Russian mission with which it was launched. Earlier in 1998, the Japanese mission to Mars ran out of fuel and was lost. India’s maiden mission to Mars, the Mangalyaan, has arrived in orbit after a 300-day marathon covering over 670 million kilometers (420 million miles).

The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war.  Mars is also called a Red planet. This is because the surface of Mars has an orange-reddish color because its soil has iron oxide or rust particles in it. The sky on Mars often appears pink or light orange because the dust in the soil is blown into Mars’ thin atmosphere by winds on Mars.

The Mars Orbiter Mission carried five payloads to accomplish its scientific objectives. They are:

Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM) – Weighed 2.94 kilograms

MSM is designed to measure Methane (CH4) in the Martian atmosphere.

Mars Color Camera (MCC) – Weighed 1.2 kilograms

This tri-color Mars Color camera gives images & information about the surface features and composition of Martian surface. They are useful to monitor the weather of Mars. MCC will also be used for probing the two satellites of Mars – Phobos & Deimos. It also provides context information for other science payloads.

Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP) – Weighed 1.97 kilograms

Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP) measures the abundance of deuterium and hydrogen gasses. Measurement of D/H (Deuterium to Hydrogen abundance Ratio) allows us to understand especially the loss process of water from the planet. That is, it tries to comprehend the everyday disappearance of water from the planet.

Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA) – Weighed 3.57 kilograms

MENCA is used to study the elements in the Mars atmosphere.

Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS) – Weighed 32 kilograms

TIS measure the thermal emission and can be operated during both day and night. This is used to analyze the mineral composition and types of soil on the planet.

To sum up, collectively including all the payloads the Mangalyan is weighed 1,337 kgs. Solar panels are also incorporated in Managalyan’s satellite. These panels absorb the sunlight and provide power supply to the satellite. The satellite also has a backup lithium-ion battery.

ISRO is also planning to send Mangalyan 2 into Mars. We will have to wait and see what improvements they are going to add to this mission.

With the Indian government advising tourists and pilgrims to leave the Kashmir valley immediately it had created a state of turmoil among locals. Because of the intelligence news about the terror threats the center had to advise the tourists to cut short their stay.

The government’s announcement also triggered panic among the politicians of Jammu and Kashmir who fear that center may have plans to abrogate the Article 370 that grants “special autonomous status to J&K” and Article 35A of the Constitution which gives exclusive rights to the state’s residents in government jobs and land. The Congress slammed the government for the announcement, saying that it scared the citizens with its advisory.  Article 35A was introduced through a presidential decree, not by parliament.

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Provisions of Article 370:

According to this article, except for defense, foreign affairs, finance, and communications, Parliament needs the state government’s concurrence for applying all other laws in Jammu and Kashmir. Thus, the state’s residents live under a separate set of laws, including those related to citizenship, ownership of property, and fundamental rights.

As a result of this provision, only a ‘state subject’ can purchase land in the state. Indian citizens from other states cannot purchase land or property in Jammu and Kashmir. Under Article 370, the Centre has no power to declare financial emergency under Article 360 in the state. It can declare an emergency in the state only in case of war or external aggression. The Union government can therefore not declare emergency on grounds of internal disturbance or imminent danger unless it is made at the request or with the concurrence of the state government. Because of this Article 370, all the provisions of the Constitution which are applicable to other states are not applicable to J&K.

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Abolishing these special provisions will plunge the state into chaos. Home Minister Amit Shah in his earlier statement pointed out that Article 370 was a temporary provision and not a special provision. Now that the government has numbers in the Lok Sabha, it has also managed to pass crucial bills in Rajya Sabha will they remove the legal provisions of J&K? These provisions cause the ambiguity about the status of J&K, as for Article 370 it is outright discriminatory. We cannot have separate laws and citizenship and property in one country. The state has been in limbo since 2016, now is the time for course correction. The BJP government under Vajpayee said they cannot do away with the controversial law because they did not have the numbers. But now they do so they can. Once India removes these legally contentious articles it would send a strong and clear message to all the wanna be mediators that J&K is an integral part of India with the same legal structure that the rest of the country follows. Let’s wait and see if the government can correct this historical wrongs.

From the past few days, I’ve been watching debates on whether the women of menstruation age need to be allowed into the temples or not. Most of the devotees strongly denounce this as they consider women in period times to be impure and polluted. How outrageous and unconstitutional it is.

In ancient times, people had formed a belief that women after they hit puberty at the age of 12 or 13, they have a monthly biological cycle of going through the menstruation process. And there wasn’t any sanitary equipment like tampons, pads to clean the blood. Men of that time wanted them to take rest being in the house as the energy drops of the women during this period. They do not want to take women out to places while they are bleeding which is why the women were told to stay home. But what’s ironic is they were also told to remain isolated in the house in complete solitude, not to touch idols or any human till the period is complete.

Now that Supreme Court has lifted the ban on women’s entry into Sabarimala shrine, many women are delighted to visit and worship the deity Ayyappa. But many of the devotees across the nation began protesting against the court’s verdict saying that the decision given was against their belief/tradition.

So the question arises now, whether people should believe the constitution/law or belief/faith?