When a top scientist of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) says, “Life is not a molecule of methane,” one wonders what the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) is doing out there, 680 million kilometres away, all strapped up with the methane sensor. The same scientist also claims we should have gone to the virgin planet of Mercury and not Mars. There are others too; those who believe the red planet isn’t the “formidable combination of favourable characteristics to make a habitable environment” just yet. And those who think the mission is a “national waste”. With so many misgivings, one is tempted to ask if the cheapest mission to Mars, the ₹4,500-million Mangalyaan, is worth the four rupees that went out of our pockets.
In Reaching for the Stars: India’s Mission to Mars and Beyond , authors Pallav Bagla and Subhadra Menon do little to allay such misplaced fears, rather they do their best to couch India’s foray into the science of the final frontier in earthly things like space races, politics and worthy Indian values. The book traces MOM’s journey from the chambers of a dusty building in Khan Market, Delhi, to the second launchpad at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Ordinarily, a mission of this scale would’ve been a marathon run over years, but it’s reduced to a “100-metre dash” spanning 15 months. The earliest window of opportunity — November 2013 — was chosen, not so much for the right alignment of orbits but to beat the Chinese in the Asian space race. That the probe would have a front-row view of a speeding comet was incidental. The authors insist, however, that the department of space and ISRO are far removed from the Capital, unwilling to participate in the politics of space. Nations take space race so seriously that when Chandrayaan-I failed to keep its 1998 deadline, falling behind China’s maiden lunar probe, Delhi was so upset, former PM Manmohan Singh never granted an audience to the moon mission team in his tenure. This, after Chandrayaan-I discovered water on the moon; a major scientific breakthrough, before losing contact.
Much of the book is preoccupied with the ‘virtues’ of Indian space science: from launch vehicles that arrive atop bicycles and bullock carts, and scientists who “never brag” to the amount of jugaad in the frugal engineering, and the tilak -sporting missions blessed by the Church and the lord at Tirupati. Reaching for the Stars is not a “human story of an epic achievement,” unlike say, the revealing account in Apollo: Race to the Moon that told us of the story of a space probe riddled with political controversies and engineering obstacles. Despite the righteous swag of the book, there is much to celebrate about MOM and Indian space missions. The methane sensor may or may not confirm the presence of the gas. Even if it does, we won’t know if it’s biologically generated methane (indicating life existed on Mars) or just asteroid dust. But, as Bagla writes, “the journey itself is a great achievement, and that is why scientists call MOM a ‘technological demonstrator’”. It is a good time for space science. Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar gave us a near-accurate depiction of a blackhole; China unveiled their Mars rover on the heels of Mangalyaan; and Philae left mothership Rosetta to attempt the first-ever landing on a comet. India too has ambitious plans to launch Aditya (a flight to the Sun), to visit a passing asteroid, and send humans into space. Move over Virgin Galactic!
The hero of the book, and the probe, is arguably, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The workhorse satellite was chosen over ‘naughty boy’ GSLV, as it could inject MOM into Mars’s orbit with minimum energy transfer. On its 25th mission with MOM, PSLV has been used for different missions differently. In 2008, it set a world record by launching 10 satellites in one shot; an ISRO official said it was akin to a school bus dropping children home, only at the speed of 27,000 kmph, with high chances of collision. And thanks to PSLV, since November 24, 2014, about a year after its launch, MOM is safely installed in the red planet’s orbit, tweeting pictures, hollering at fellow probes and steering clear of whizzing comets.