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                      India Set To Launch Orbiter to Mars

   India is counting down its launch of a space probe to Mars, seeking to
   become one of only a few nations to reach the Red Planet.
   India will launch the unmanned craft on Tuesday from the southeastern
   island of Sriharikota, the start of a 300-day journey to Mars.
   The orbiter will gather data to help determine how weather systems work
   on Mars. It also will investigate what happened to the water that is
   believed to have existed on the planet, and it will look for the
   chemical methane, a key component to life on Earth.
   Only the United States, Russia and the European Union have succeeded in
   reaching Earth`s neighbor. More than half the world`s attempts to send
   a probe to orbit Mars have failed, including attempts by Japan and
   China.
   The United States is the only nation to have successfully sent
   explorers to land on Mars, the most recent being Curiosity.
   The U.S. space agency, NASA, says it will help to monitor the Indian
   orbiter from three deep-space facilities. It also will send its own
   probe, Maven, to Mars later this month.
   NASA says some of the data Maven will collect will complement the
   research gathered by the Indian craft.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/india-set-to-launch-orbiter-to-mars/1
   783481.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/india-set-to-launch-orbiter-to-mars/1783481.html