Mangalyaan-2 Mission: India’s Second Mars Mission Aims to Land On the Red Planet This Time

The Indian Space Commission – the policy-making body for the space sector – has given its nod to Indian Space Organisation’s (ISRO) plans for a second Mars Mission or Mangalyaan-2 (Mangalyaan in Hindi means Mars Spacecraft) or Mars Lander Mission (MLM).

Now, it is for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to decide on ISRO’s second Mission to Mars.

Mangalyaan-2: India’s Ambitious Mars Lander Mission Takes Shape

While ISRO had earlier successfully orbited its spacecraft around Mars, this time around, it plans to have a lander and a rover on the red planet, replicating its third Mission to the Moon.

ISRO’s first Mars Mission called Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) or Mangalyaan-1 (project cost about Rs.450 crore/$73 million) was launched on 5 November 2013 using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

The MOM cost was lower than the Hollywood space mission-based movie Gravity, whose production cost was said to be about $100 million.

The Orbiter entered the Martian orbit in September 2014, making India the fourth nation in the world and the first one in Asia to send a spacecraft to that orbit.

While the designed life span of MOM was only six months, it lasted till 2022 when ISRO lost contact with the craft.

India’s first Mars Mission demonstrated the country’s capability to execute an interplanetary mission at a very low cost and in the first attempt.

Mission to Venus, Space Station, Human Space Flight on ISRO’s radar

Second Mars Mission aside, ISRO has already got the Modi’s government’s permission for other major missions like the Venus Orbiter Mission and Chandrayaan-4/Moon Mission-4.

According to ISRO, the Venus Orbiter Mission is to study different facets of Venus, including its surface and atmosphere.

The Indian government has said the Venus Orbiter Mission will be held during March 2028 at a total outlay of Rs.1,236 crore, including Rs.824 crore, for the spacecraft.

The Chandrayaan-4 mission is to collect lunar samples and return them to Earth.

These missions will be major stepping stones to achieve Modi’s Space Vision 2047 – India being one of the most impactful space-powers with the Bharatiya Antariksha Station (BAS)/Indian Space Station in orbit by year 2035, and Indians having landed on the Moon with indigenous technologies by year 2040, the Indian space agency said.

The Indian space agency is also in the process of developing a new 30 ton rocket powered by methane.

However the major project on its plate is the Gaganyaan/human space flight programme-flying about three Indian astronauts on a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with its own rocket.

ISRO will undertake four missions under on-going Gaganyaan Programme by 2026.

ISRO had soft landed the Vikram lander near the lunar South Pole and a rover Pragyan rolled down from it in 2023 under its Chandrayaan-3 (Chandra-Moon, Yaan-craft).