India, France aim high, to partner in Mars dream

Red Planet is inspiring India and France to aim higher.  Taking their blossoming relations to a higher trajectory, India and France have decided to enhance their cooperation in space technology by agreeing to jointly develop India’s Mars mission. During the three-day visit of France’s President Francois Hollande to India from January 24-26, the two countries had agreed to collaborate through the participation of the Centre National d’études spatiales (CNES) in future space and planetary exploration missions of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).  “India’s Mangalyaan is very impressive, a good example of Make in India and of low-cost space exploration,” Jean-Yves Le Gall, president of the French Space Agency CNES had said. “After India’s Mars orbiter, the next step has to be a lander. A lander on Mars is not easy, but it will be interesting to undertake,” he added. India’s Mangalayaan mission has garnered rich accolades the world over, with commentators famously remarking that it cost less than a Hollywood movie. The cost of India’s Mars mission (45 million pounds) is hardly a fraction of what it costs NASA (410 million pounds) for this feat. If the joint venture between India and France succeeds, it will be only the second rover on the surface of Mars. The US’ Curiosity Rover is the only rover to have successfully landed on Mars so far. The prime objective of the Mars Orbiter Mission is to collect the data from Mars and send it to earth for analysis. The probe has already sent some  pictures of the Martian surface and its weather patterns such as dust storms.