Mangalayaan

India’s space agency ISRO launched its Mars Orbiter Mission vehicle “Mangalayaan” (Mangal is the Sanskrit name of Mars) on November 5, 2013. It lifted off from Sriharikota, a few kilometers from Chennai near Bay of Bengal. It will travel 780 million kilometers to enter the orbit of Mars in September 2014.
This is the first space inter-planetary mission by India. And if it is successful, India will be the first to send a mission to Mars. Earlier Chinese and Japanese missions have failed. Outside Asia, the US, Russia and European Space Agency have been successful.
Mars evokes lot a interest as it is considered to be similar to the earth with a day of 24 hours and 37 minutes. However the question to be probed is if Mars has a biosphere that can sustain life. The mission will investigate Marsh atmosphere. It will also send pictures of two moons of the Mars i.e., Phobos and Deimos. So wait for the lot more interesting pieces of information.