India's space agency is planning to launch a mission to Mars in the year 2013, under which a orbital probe will be put around the red planet to study its climate and geology.

The mission will be another milestone for the country's maiden space agency, the Indian space Research Organization (ISRO). Deviprasad Karnik, director of the state-run ISRO said, "We will embark on the Mars mission after the Department of Science gives the green signal and decides the schedule early next year."

The space agency will launch the orbiter spaceship on a Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket from ISRO launch site at Sriharikota in the state of Andhra Pradesh, The cost of the project is estimated to be between $70 and
90 million dollars or 4 to 5 billion rupees. The government has allocated 1.25 billion rupees for the project during the previous fiscal year.

According to plans presented to the government by the space agency the spacecraft will be launched during October-November 2013 and it will enter the Mars orbit by September 2014. The collect satellite images and transmit them back to India to allow scientists to study the possibility of life there.

India launched its prestigious Chandrayaan-1 satellite mission to the moon and it was successful in discovering water on the moon. The achievement gave ISRO and India, a respectable standing among the space faring elite nations of the world. ISRO is now planning its first ever manned mission in 2016.