India’s first mission to Mars entered orbit on 24 sep 14, making it the first Asian nation to reach the Red Planet, Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this mission is that it was made entirely with homegrown Indian technologies — and was produced on a remarkably small budget of $74 million.

After completing the 666 million km (414 million mile) journey in more than 10 months, the spacecraft, also known as Mangalyaan was entered the mars orbit on 24 sep 14.  Mangalyaan will study the Red Planet’s surface and scan its atmosphere for chemical methane.