India's mission to Mars got Rs.125 crore (over $24 million) in the budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in parliament Friday.

The allocation was a part of the total plan outlay of Rs.5,615 crore for the department of space.

The mission envisages launching an orbiter around Mars using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket during November 2013, as per the budget papers.

The Mars orbiter will have a provision for carrying nearly 25 kg of scientific payloads on-board.

The space department got a sizeable increase in its annual plan outlay. It was allocated Rs.5,615 crore as against a revised estimate of Rs.3,432 crore for 2011-12.

The total plan expenditure towards rocket technology is Rs.1,969.52 crore and towards satellite technology is Rs.1,038.56 crore.

The department of atomic energy (DAE) too got an increased plan outlay for the next fiscal.

For the DAE, the budget estimate for next fiscal is Rs.11,673 crore as against the revised estimate of Rs.9,895 crore for 2011-12.

Meagre increase in India's space budget
aff Writers New Delhi (IANS) Mar 19 - India's space budget saw a minuscule increase of over one percent this year compared to the last year with a decrease in allocations in the country's manned mission initiative, satellite technology and space sciences.

The government allocated Rs.6,715 crore this year to the Department of Space compared to Rs.6,626 crore in 2011.

Last year, there was an increase of over 47 percent in the budget compared to 2010.

The budgetary allocation for the country's manned mission initiative and human space flight programme was reduced to Rs.60 crore this year from Rs.98 crore in 2011.

The budget for satellite technology saw a dip of 16 percent to Rs.1197 crore while space applications recorded a downfall of 10 percent to Rs.758 crore.

The government has allocated Rs.125 crore for the Mars Orbiter Mission.

Source: Indo-Asia News Service