BENGALURU: Buoyed by the success of the Mars Orbiter Mission — the probe will turn two on Saturday though it was intended to last six months — Indian space scientists are planning a second shot at the Red Planet.
The second orbiter will get up close to Mars and could carry instruments weighing 100 kg as compared with a mere 15 kg in MOM. And unlike the first mission where all five instruments were designed by ISRO’s scientists, the space agency has invited the country’s scientific community to propose studies of the Martian atmosphere and surface and to design instruments to support their research. These studies could address questions on evolution of planets, whether life existed elsewhere in the solar system, and the interplay between geological and possible biological history.
