After Indo-US summit on Mars, Obama-Modi meet on earth

Washington, Sep 30: Noting that he and President Barack Obama were meeting just days after the Indian and the US missions reached Mars, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that after the Indo-US summit on the Red Planet, it's the turn of the leaders of the two nations to meet here on earth.

"This happy coincidence captures the potential of our relationship," Modi said, during a joint press event with President Obama. The two leaders had held talks on substantive bilateral, regional and international issues including defence, security and Islamic State militant threat in West Asia.

India had on September 24 created space history by successfully placing its low-cost Mars spacecraft in orbit around the Red Planet in its very first attempt, catapulting the country into an elite club of three nations.

At just USD 74 million, the mission cost less than the estimated 100 million USD budget of the sci-fi blockbuster "Gravity". India's Mars mission is the cheapest inter-planetary mission, costing a tenth of NASA's Mars mission Maven that entered the Martian orbit on September 22.

With the success of "Mangalyaan", India became the first country to go to Mars in the very first attempt. European, American and Russian probes have managed to orbit or land on the planet, but after several attempts.

PTI