Indian space head braced for tricky Mars challenge

The head of India’s space agency warned on Thursday of the immense complexity of launching a mission to Mars as the country prepares to send its first interplanetary probe to explore the atmosphere on the Red Planet.

“As we can see for Mars there were 51 missions so far the world around and there were 21 successful missions,” K Radhakrishnan said in an interview. “It’s a complex mission.”

The 1.3-tonne Mars Orbiter probe will begin a 300-day mission next Tuesday when it is launched aboard a rocket from the Sriharikota space station on the Bay of Bengal.

Radhakrishnan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), denied any last-minute nerves about the 4.5 billion rupee (HK$569 million) project, but said his scientists had a tiny margin for error.

“In space, we should not worry about success or failure. The difference between success and failure in space is very, very thin,” he said.

“But do the job well and do the best. And if it is a failure, then learn. Failure is a stepping stone for success,” he added, fresh from a meeting to brief Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on preparations.

A rehearsal of the computer systems which will launch and then control the probe was successfully conducted on Thursday, he said, and the final countdown will begin on Sunday morning.