Map of India Seen On Mars In The First Images Sent By Orbiter Mangalyaan
The MOM Was The Cheapest Mission In The History Of Interplanetary Mission
India's Mars Orbiter, Mangalyaan, began orbiting the planet Mars on September 24. It captured images of the Red Planet the very next day. Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO, said in its official Facebook page that the first image captured showed a regional dust storm over the northern hemisphere.
It was a moment of pride for the whole of India; the pictures of the Red Planet uploaded on the Facebook page became popular. The picture was taken by Mangalyaan's Mars Colour Camera from an altitude of 46,000 miles from Mars, reports ISRO. The images showed a beautifully circular disk that is reddish brown in colour with patterns of light and dark with a dust storm.
What people immediately took notice of was that there was a portion on the planet that was discoloured and was shaped like the Indian subcontinent, reported United Press International. One Facebook user, Saurabh Gupt commented on the photo "OMG, India map on Mars!"
There was a sudden surge of comments on the image that pointed towards the discoloured, Indian map-shaped portion on the surface of the planet. The image began spreading on Twitter as well. ISRO tweeted the image on its official Mars Orbiter twitter account stating, "Something's brewing here!"
Something's brewing here! pic.twitter.com/ecX1t6onXp
— ISRO's Mars Orbiter (@MarsOrbiter) September 29, 2014
NBC News explained that the Indian map shape spotted on Mars was due to an effect produced by the,"tones of the red Martian soil" in that area. Quartz India reported that people spotted the region and identified the dark portion as India because most often, the mind relates vague and random stimulus, such as an ink blot, to a familiar image. This projects the psychological process of the viewer. The site stated that if this was a Rorschach Test, then it would only indicate towards the huge amount of patriotism in the nation due to the remarkable achievement of sending a Mars-craft.
India's Mars Orbiter Mission, or MOM, is the cheapest space project ever to be launched, costing only $74million. Also, India is the only country that reached Mars in its first attempt; other countries like America and Russia were successful after several failed attempts. This indeed was a great moment for India.
