AGARTALA, October 30 (TIWN): Popular science talk on India’s Mission to Mars was organized by Tripura State Council for Science and Technology at Muktidhara Auditorium here today.

Speaking in the programme Dr. Debiprasad Duari, Director, M.P. Birla Planetarium, Kolkata said that the satellite is India’s first Mars mission and reached the red planet on last September 24th. We have dared to reach out into the unknown and have achieved the near impossible, he said.

The success of the Mars Orbiter Mission will boost the five-decade-old space programme that India wants to expand with new infrastructure and technology. It is indeed going to encourage the country to build better space launch facilities capable of handling heavier satellites as the country seeks to establish itself in the space technology market, competing with an elite group of nations, he added.

The cost of the project is $74 million. This is a big step. The nation is proud of the historic achievement which has demonstrated, yet again, India’s space capabilities. I am sure that this breakthrough, which marks a significant landmark in our space programme, will inspire our scientists to make even greater strides, he mentioned.

India has so far launched 40 satellites for other countries. In June, ISRO put five foreign satellites into space.