Mangalyaan in Time magazine’s 25 best inventions of 2014
21 Nov 2014
India's Mars mission Mangalyaan has found a place in Time magazine's best inventions of 2014. The magazine has described it as a technological feat that would allow India to flex its "interplanetary muscles."
''Nobody gets Mars right on the first try. The US didn't, Russia didn't, the Europeans didn't. But on Sept.?24, India did. That's when the Mangalyaan (Mars craft in Hindi) went into orbit around the Red Planet, a technological feat no other Asian nation has yet achieved.
''Building the craft cost India just $74?million, less than the budget for the film Gravity. At that price, the Mangalyaan is equipped with just five onboard 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 program - and for science in general,'' Time magazine wrote in its 20 November edition.
The space craft is among the 25 'Best Inventions of 2014' listed by Time magazine that were "making the world better, smarter and-in some cases-a little more fun."
Among other listed inventions by Indians are an exercise space for prisoners in solitary confinement and a tablet toy for kids.
Other inventions that would make the world better were rechargeable battery powered wheels for bicycles, the air-conditioner that lowered electricity bills, Northern Voices Online reported.
Among the inventions that would change how people relaxed were a selfie stick, a coaching basketball and a screen that showed digital art.
The best inventions powering the technology of tomorrow, which included Mangalyaan, also featured wireless electricity, reactors that could realise nuclear fusion, and 3-D printed everything.
