India's Mars Orbiter Mission: Triumph of Frugal Engineering

India's Mars Orbiter Mission: Triumph of Frugal Engineering
Case Code: BSTR473
Case Length: 11 Pages
Period: 2011 - 2014
Pub Date: 2015
Teaching Note: Available
Price: Rs.300
Organization: ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization)
Industry: Space Technology
Countries: India
Themes: Innovation, Frugal Innovation
India's Mars Orbiter Mission: Triumph of Frugal Engineering
Abstract Case Intro 1 Case Intro 2 Excerpts

Introduction

On September 24, 2014, India's the Mars Orbiter Mission (MoM) or Mangalyaan successfully entered the Mars orbit. With this, India became the first nation to succeed in its maiden attempt to reach Mars and India's primary space Agency, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization), became the first space organization of Asia to do so.

After travelling for 300 days and accomplishing a journey of 420 million miles, Mangalyaan reached Mars and started orbiting successfully. However, what grabbed the attention of the international media was the mission's shoestring budget of $74 million, which was one ninth of NASA's Maven mission to put a spacecraft into the Mars orbit. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, said, "Our program stands out as the most cost-effective, here is this story of our Mars mission costing less than the Hollywood movie 'Gravity' ... Our scientists have shown the world a new paradigm of engineering and the power of imagination."

The mission to Mars gained the reputation of being a difficult space exploration as only 21 out of the 51 attempted missions turned out to be successful. ISRO's success was hailed by the international media. The BBC, The Guardian, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Economist mentioned that India had succeeded in becoming the first country to put a satellite into the Martian orbit in its first attempt. However, the mission had its share of critics with concerns being raised about the need and affordability of space exploration given the high levels of poverty in the country....

Buy this case study (Please select any one of the payment options)

Price: Rs.300
Price: Rs.300
PayPal (7 USD)

Custom Search