India’s Mars satellite is among Time’s list of top inventions of 2014 that includes levitating skateboards, superbananas that prevent blindness, Ebola fighting filter, and a tablet that translates sign language.
Dubbing it the supersmart spacecraft, Time said: “Nobody gets Mars right on the first try. The US didn’t, Russia didn’t, the Europeans didn’t. But on 24 September, India did.”
It further said that at $74 million, Mangalyaan is equipped with five instruments that allow it to do simple tasks like measure Martian methane and surface composition. “More important, however, it allows India to flex its interplanetary muscles, which portends great things for the country’s space programme—and for science in general,” it added.
