Article Posted on : - Aug 23, 2014

An artistic illustration of India's MOM spacecraft. An ISRO image

CHENNAI (PTI): India's ambitious Mars Orbiter Mission was just nine million kilometres away from the Red Planet, the Indian Space Research Organisation said Saturday.

"Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) is just nine million km away from Mars and 189 million kilometres away from the Earth. 33 more days to MARS," ISRO said in its social networking site.

Early this month, ISRO scientists ruled out Trajectory Correction Manoeuvre originally planned for August as the spacecraft was on track.

The ambitious Mars mission under a Rs 450-crore project was launched from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on board the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on November 5 last year with an aim to reach the Red Planet's atmosphere by September 24.

The project is expected to provide the scientific community better opportunities in planetary research.