India’s mission to Mars begins 10-month trek

San Francisco Chronicle : After spending nearly one month in Earth orbit undergoing final system checks, India’s first Martian orbiter is finally on its way. Called Mangalyaan (“Mars craft”), the spacecraft will orbit the Sun for 10 months before it reaches Mars in September 2014. Once there, its mission is to map Martian weather patterns and look for evidence of methane. If it is successful, India will become just the fourth nation—after the USSR, the US, and the EU—to develop a space program to reach Mars. The $72 million mission and India’s $1 billion space program have drawn criticism by those who say that the funds would be better spent on domestic social problems. However, the Indian government has defended its space exploration investment by saying that it has provided employment for engineers and scientists and been the source of technologies and information for solving many of the problems the country faces.