Dust Storm In Mars: Mars Orbiter Sends Pictures [Watch Video]

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) scientists and engineers watch Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) on screens after India's Mars orbiter successfully entered at their Spacecraft Control Center in the southern Indian city of Bangalore September 24, 2014. India's low-cost mission to Mars successfully entered the red planet's orbit on Wednesday, crowning what Prime Minister Narendra Modi said was a "near impossible" push to complete the trip on its maiden attempt. The Mars Orbiter Mission cost $74 million or about three-quarters of the amount to make the Oscar-winning movie 'Gravity' about astronauts stranded in space. Reuters

On Sept 30, Indian Space Research Organisation's Mars orbiter sent out its first few images of the Red Planet. The pictures seem to show a regional dust storm happening above the northern hemisphere of the planet.

According to the Austrian Tribune, the pictures were published on ISRO's official Facebook page. Mars Colour Camera present in the Mars Orbiter Mission captured the images. The organisation said that the images were taken at a height of around 74,500 kilometres from the surface of the Red Planet.

India's Mars Orbiter, Mangalyaan, reached the planet on Sept 24, a few days after NASA's MAVEN spacecraft. Mars Orbiter Mission was sent with the goal of studying the surface of the planet in addition to its mineral composition. It will scan for methane in the atmosphere of Mars as methane is considered to be an indicator of life. The spacecraft is expected to be in the planet for the next six months, collecting data from the surface of the planet.

Mangalyaan has five instruments in its spacecraft, which includes a sensor to track methane. The other instruments include the colour camera that was used to capture the images and a thermal-imaging spectrometer. It will help in mapping the surface to find how much mineral wealth is present in the planet.

Mangalyaan reached the planet after a nine-month-journey, which began on Nov. 5, 2013 in Andhra Pradesh, India. India's Mangalyaan is the first spacecraft to reach the planet in its first try. It is also the first Asian country to reach Mars after failed attempts from China and Japan. The other places to have successful Mars missions are Europe, America and Russia but only after repeated attempts.

NASA was all praises for the achievement of the success of Mars Orbiter Mission and took to social networking site, Twitter, to congratulate them. NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover has been on Mars since August 2011 and has been sending back pictures.

The pictures have been doing the rounds on social media and many objects like a smooth ball, a traffic light, a thigh bone was found in the images. The objects were then clarified to be just rocks.