India to launch Mars orbiter in 2013 August 16, 2012 -- Updated
0535 GMT (1335 HKT) - Indian Mars probe will be "a huge step,"
Indian PM Singh says - The probe has a "small launch window" in
November 2013 - India has been launching satellites since 1975 -
It plans to launch a manned space mission in 2016 (CNN) -- With
New Delhi's iconic Red Fort as a backdrop, Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh announced Wednesday his country has set its
sights on the Red Planet. In a Wednesday speech marking India's
independence day, Singh said his government has approved plans
to put an unmanned probe in orbit around Mars. The mission "will
be a huge step for us in the area of science and technology," he
said. It's an ambitious goal, with a planned launch in November
2013 for a 10-month flight, said Kiran Karnik, a former official
with the Indian Space Research Organization. "By the time the
mission gets there, Mars will be comparatively the closest,"
Karnik told CNN's sister network CNN-IBN. "So there's a small
window in