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The Indian space agency has just announced that it has lost all communication with the probes sent around the planet Mars. This is the end of an extraordinary mission that will last more than eight years and has proven a real success for the country until then it is little used to such interplanetary adventures.
With our correspondent in India, Sebastian Farcis
The mission was only planned for six months but the India probe would eventually revolve for eight years around Mars. An achievement on several levels, says Pallava Bagla, science journalist and co-author of a book on Mars exploration.
“ India is the first country to put a probe around Mars on its first try. And in my view, it fulfills one of the mission’s main geopolitical goals: to successfully do so in front of its hostile neighbour, China, he shows. In addition, the placement in orbit is so precise that the probe saves fuel and can spin longer than expected. »
Robot rolls on the moon
This investigation, called mangalayaan, also reports some interesting data. “ One of its successes was obtaining a complete picture of the Martian disk, which is rare, reporters explained. And this photo was published on the cover of National Geographic. »
Now, India’s space agency is preparing to launch next year a robot that rolls on the Moon to analyze its soil. This is after the first failure on this mission three years ago. Then in 2024, India plans to send an orbital probe to Venus.
