Awaiting fruit

No word is enough to praise for Indian Space Research Organisation's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM). As soon as its spacecraft started orbiting the Red Planet at 7.47am, the scientists at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network in Bangalore, erupted in joy. India has become the first country in the world to achieve this feat in its maiden attempt in 18 months. Other similar missions took nearly 24-30 months. MOM covered 680 million km (since November 5, 2013) at a cost of Rs 454 crore. It means Rs 6.67 per km, which is much less than many four-wheeler journey on Earth. Of course, the fruits of this mission will take time to germinate and spread.

Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee, Faridabad

Giant leap to Mars

The giant leap to Mars is not only exceptional but also extraordinarily daring. It is due to the intelligence, precision, persistence and dedication of scientists that MOM was put into orbit at first strike. The rich legacy of Indians includes the discovery of zero and strides in the fileds of the solar system and astronomy.

Sanyam Bhatia, Amritsar

Cheapest mission

Indian scientists deserve appreciation for the success of MOM (editorial "Spectacular success", September 25). India has become the first Asian country to reach Mars and the first in the world to enter the Martian orbit in its maiden attempt. More interesting is that MOM is also the world's cheapest inter-planetary mission, costing around Rs 450 crore or $74 million, which is a tenth of NASA's Mars Mission Maven that entered the orbit on September 22.

India must keep science and technology in its priority list of budget allocation to encourage science education from the school and college levels, with more concentration in research and development.

HARISH MONGA, Ferozepur

MOM is home

The spectacular success of Mars Orbiter Mission has given India a place of pride in the world and interplanetary space exploration. PM Modi has rightly given the credit to ISRO scientists, but his reference to a "gift to our rishis (ascetics) as scientists" is quite amusing if not absurdly out of place in this modern world of advanced technology.

The Mars exploration project, Mangalyaan, was given approval in 2012, and Mars orbiter was launched by PSLV in 2013 during the UPA regime. A mention of former PM Manmohan Singh and his government would have been an appreciable gesture of sharing credit.

LJ Singh, via email

Miles to go

Apropos the editorial “Spectacular success” (September 25), the role of ISRO scientists in the successful Mars mission, Mangalyaan is praiseworthy for this pathbreaking feat in outer space. The first mission to Mars was launched by the then Soviet Union on October 10, 1960. It was a failure. The USA launched its Mars mission on November 5, 1964. This was also a failure. One wonders at the marvel of ISRO's scientists whose maiden mission is a success, and more so at such a low cost.

But we should not think that we have surpassed NASA, space agency of USA. We have succeeded in putting a light weight spacecraft in Mars orbit. NASA has already landed Rover on Mars and it is still operational and sending pictures from that planet. Our scientists have miles to go. They need to develop indigenous powerful cryogenic engine so that they are able to send satellites and spacecrafts with bigger loads. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has very well summed up the feelings of the nation by saying, "We have dared to reach out in to the unknown and have achieved (the) near impossible."

Arun Hastir, Babehali (Gurdaspur)

On world stage

Mangalyaan has entered the Mars orbit. Congratulations to ISRO and the scientists. The aspirations of generations of Indian scientists who have worked day and night have come true. Go ahead and stand in the world stage for the welfare of humankind and for Mother Nature.

Vasundhra Mankotia, Kangra