# Mangalyaan: How India Reached Mars on Its First Attempt The **Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM)**, also known as **Mangalyaan**, was India's first interplanetary mission. Launched in 2013, it catapulted ISRO into an elite group of space agencies capable of navigating deep space. --- ## 1. The Slingshot Trajectory Since India did not have its heavy LVM3 launcher fully certified in 2013, ISRO launched Mangalyaan using the smaller PSLV-XL. - **Gravity Assists:** Instead of launching directly towards Mars, the spacecraft was put in a highly elliptical Earth orbit. It performed a series of carefully timed thruster burns, using **Earth's gravity** to slingshot itself towards the Red Planet with minimal fuel consumption. --- ## 2. Frugal Cost Structure Mangalyaan cost ₹450 Crore (approx. **$74 Million**). By comparison: - NASA's MAVEN Mars mission cost over **$670 Million**. - The Hollywood movie *Interstellar* cost **$165 Million** to make. ISRO achieved this via short development schedules, indigenous sub-assemblies, and limiting hardware testing cycles to highly precise computer simulations. --- ## 3. Key Scientific Instruments - **Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM):** Aimed to map and track methane patterns to study geological/biological sources. - **Mars Color Camera (MCC):** Relayed spectacular full-globe, high-definition visual photographs of Martian sand storms, canyons, and its moons Phobos and Deimos.