AIRLINK 202.97 Decreased By ▼ -2.84 (-1.38%)
BOP 10.18 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.59%)
CNERGY 7.09 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.42%)
FCCL 34.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.26 (-0.75%)
FFL 17.36 Increased By ▲ 0.26 (1.52%)
FLYNG 24.90 Increased By ▲ 0.22 (0.89%)
HUBC 132.60 Increased By ▲ 1.42 (1.08%)
HUMNL 14.05 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.5%)
KEL 4.84 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-1.43%)
KOSM 6.79 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.29%)
MLCF 43.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.59 (-1.33%)
OGDC 220.49 Decreased By ▼ -1.28 (-0.58%)
PACE 7.15 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-0.97%)
PAEL 42.24 Decreased By ▼ -0.45 (-1.05%)
PIAHCLA 17.10 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.18%)
PIBTL 8.70 Increased By ▲ 0.28 (3.33%)
POWER 9.10 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.11%)
PPL 189.39 Decreased By ▼ -1.47 (-0.77%)
PRL 43.04 Decreased By ▼ -0.45 (-1.03%)
PTC 25.62 Increased By ▲ 0.83 (3.35%)
SEARL 102.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.26 (-0.25%)
SILK 1.02 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
SSGC 43.20 Increased By ▲ 0.46 (1.08%)
SYM 18.08 Decreased By ▼ -0.32 (-1.74%)
TELE 9.17 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-0.97%)
TPLP 13.05 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-0.76%)
TRG 68.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.48 (-0.7%)
WAVESAPP 10.33 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-0.86%)
WTL 1.86 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (3.33%)
YOUW 4.22 Increased By ▲ 0.22 (5.5%)
BR100 12,039 Increased By 5 (0.04%)
BR30 36,790 Increased By 12.3 (0.03%)
KSE100 114,413 Decreased By -82.9 (-0.07%)
KSE30 35,999 Decreased By -3.9 (-0.01%)

India's first mission to Mars blasted off successfully on Tuesday, completing the first stage of an 11-month journey that could see New Delhi's low-cost space programme win Asia's race to the Red Planet. A 350-tonne rocket carrying an unmanned probe soared into a slightly overcast sky on schedule at 2:38 pm (0908 GMT), monitored by dozens of scientists at the southern spaceport of Sriharikota.
After 44 minutes, applause broke out in the tense control room as navigation ships in the South Pacific reported that the spacecraft had successfully entered orbit around Earth. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K. Radhakrishnan allowed himself a smile, slapped a colleague on the back and announced he was "extremely happy" that the first objective had been reached. At the end of this month, once enough velocity has been built up to break free from Earth's gravitational pull, "the great, long, difficult voyage will start" to Mars, he announced.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2013

Comments

Comments are closed.