India's maiden Mars mission 'Mangalyaan' to be launched today

Sriharikota, India is all set for its maiden Mars mission with its satellite, Mangalyaan, scheduled for a lift-off today from the balmy space port of Sriharikota in coastal Andhra Pradesh.

With the weather forecast clear and no space debris expected to come in the way of the satellite, the lift-off is likely to take place on time at 2:38 pm.

PSLV C-25 will put Mangalyaan weighing 1,340 kilograms in the earth orbit. To reach Mars, the spacecraft has to enter three phases, the earth centered phase, the helio centric phase and finally the Martian phase.

According to reports, Mangalyaan, the first inter-planatory mission to the red planet is primarily a technological machine.

It has been configured to carry out observations of the physical features of the Mars and also to carry out a limited study of the Martian atmosphere.

European Space Agency (ESA) of European consortium, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the US and Roscosmos of Russia are the only three agencies which have so far sent their missions to the red planet.