India will become first Asian nation to reach Mars, claims ISRO

Scientific Secretary of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), V Koteswara Rao, on Monday claimed that India will become the first Asian nation to reach Mars if orbit insertion goes successful.

"India will be the first Asian country to go to Mars. The second thing is that if we are successful on 24th, India will be the first country to succeed in its maiden attempt," Koteswara Rao said here.

"If you see the history of the failed missions they have failed at various stages, some have failed during the launch which we have crossed, some of them failed during trans-Mars injection which we have crossed.... We have completed 98 percent of the journey. The remaining crucial thing is Mars orbit insertion," he added.

On whether ISRO is collaborating with NASA for a joint Mars working group, he said, "Right now, there is no concrete plan but both sides are thinking on those lines it may...in the coming days. We both have to work together."

Earlier on Sunday, the ISRO reportedly declared that the entire loading process for inserting the Mars spacecraft into the Red Planet's orbit on September 24, which began yesterday, will take about 13 hours to be completed.

ISRO had put the Mars spacecraft onboard Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) on November 5, last year.