Scroll down to follow Mangalyaan's journey — from an idea on Earth to eight years in orbit around Mars. Each milestone fades in as you reach it.
India's Prime Minister announces the Mars Orbiter Mission during the Independence Day address, greenlighting ISRO's first interplanetary venture.
PSLV-C25 lifts off from Sriharikota at 14:38 IST, placing Mangalyaan into an initial Earth parking orbit.
A series of engine firings gradually raise the spacecraft's Earth orbit, building up speed for the trip to Mars.
The main engine fires to break free of Earth's gravity, sending Mangalyaan on a ~10-month interplanetary cruise.
The craft coasts across roughly 650 million km of deep space, with mid-course corrections keeping it on target.
The engine fires again and Mangalyaan enters Mars orbit — India becomes the first nation to reach Mars on its first attempt.
Far outliving its 6-month design life, the orbiter returns over 1,000 images and years of atmospheric and surface data.
Mangalyaan completes eight years in orbit — an extraordinary run for a spacecraft built as a technology demonstrator.
With propellant exhausted and its battery drained, communication is lost and ISRO declares the mission at the end of its life.
Mangalyaan itself is over, but ISRO is planning a follow-up. Here's where that stands as of mid-2026.
ISRO's Space Commission clears the Mars Lander Mission — popularly called Mangalyaan-2 — India's first attempt to land on Mars. As of mid-2026 it is still awaiting final Union Cabinet approval before full development funding is released; it was not among the batch of missions (Chandrayaan-4, the Venus Orbiter Mission, and others) that the Cabinet greenlit in the meantime.
The mission's scope has grown from an orbiter-only concept into a roughly 4,500 kg spacecraft with a Cruise Stage and a separate Descent Stage, carrying a rover, a small helicopter, a sky crane and a supersonic parachute for the landing, plus about 100 kg of science instruments. ISRO chairman Dr V. Narayanan has said the mission is targeted for no earlier than 2030, which would make India only the fourth nation to land on Mars.