Space race 2.0? India says it’ll be on Mars by the end of 2013

It seems like all the excitement surrounding the U.S. Mars Science Lab program (aka Curiosity) may be just a little too much for other countries to handle. India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh just announced a plan to send an unmanned craft into Martian orbit by the end of 2013.

Without a doubt, India's plan is ambitious — almost certainly overly so given that the country is still struggling with mastering manned space flight. And that doesn't even mention the fact that the Curiosity program took years to plan and execute; India would be building a Mars plan from scratch. India is putting $82 million towards the initiative, far less than the U.S. has invested in similar missions.

Still, we wish India luck. Mars has a large number of mysteries to explore, and any help toward that end is appreciated.

[via Geekosystem]

This article was written by Fox Van Allen and originally appeared on Tecca

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