India to launch mission to Mars this year: president

“Several space missions are planned for 2013, including India's first mission to Mars and the launch of our first navigational satellite,” Mukherjee told parliament.

India will send a satellite in October via an unmanned spacecraft to orbit the red planet, blasting off from the southeastern coast in a mission expected to cost about US$83 million, scientists who are part of the mission say.

The spacecraft, which will be made in India, will take nine months to reach Mars and then launch itself in an elliptical orbit about 500 km (310 miles) from the planet.

“The mission is ready to roll,” Deviprasad Karnik, a scientist from the India Space Research Organisation, said by phone from the city of Bangalore.

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