ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission: Red planet, with secrets of life, to draw more probes

An increasing number of countries are eyeing the red planet with the idea of establishing a permanent human settlement as well as carrying out unmanned scientific experiments. On top of experiment lists is the hunt for methane, considered a remnant gas or organic life.

Nasa's Curiosity mission which landed on Mars on August 6, 2012 established that conditions on Mars were once suitable for life, but there is no methane. This is a disputed theory. Some scientists believe life began in Mars. A rock with life in it could have struck Mars and bounced to Earth, they reason.

Among five scientific equipment MOM carries is a Lyman alpha photometer to look for deuterium and hydrogen— indicators of water in the past.

So far only three countries have launched unmanned missions to Mars—the US, Russia and European Space Agency. Japan's attempt to reach Mars with the Nozomi spacecraft in 1998 suffered a setback, and China's maiden effort with Yinghuo-1 in November 2011 did not succeed.