Science and Technology -India's spacecraft to Mars has crossed the Moon's orbit on its way to the red planet

Indian Mars probe crosses Moon's orbit

 

India's spacecraft to Mars has crossed the Moon's orbit on its way to the red planet, space authorities said.

The Mangalyaan craft is now "travelling beyond the moon into deep space", space officials added.
On Sunday the spacecraft fired its main engine for more than 20 minutes, giving it the correct velocity to leave Earth's orbit.
It will now cruise for 680m km (422m miles), setting up an encounter with its target on 24 September 2014.
The Mars Orbiter Mission is designed to demonstrate the technological capability to reach Mars orbit.
But the $72m (£45m) probe will also carry out experiments, including a search for methane gas in the planet's atmosphere.
Indian Space Research Organisation officials said the spacecraft had crossed the Moon's orbit on Monday night.

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