SRIHARIKOTA: Highlights of India's mission to Mars.India is the first Asian country and the fourth in the world to undertake a mission to the red planet in the hope of finding methane and minerals.The cost of India's mission to Mars is Rs 450 crore (about $72.9 million).The Indian-made rocket — Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C25 (PSLV-C25) is around 44 metres tall and weighs around 320 tonnes.The expendable rocket costs around Rs 110 crore, and has a single but important luggage — the 1,340-kg Mars orbiter costing around Rs 150 crore. Around Rs 90 crore has been spent on augmenting the ground support/tracking systems.The scientific mission will explore Mars’s surface features, morphology, or the study of organisms, mineralogy, the study of minerals, and Martian atmosphere.The rocket will cover a distance of about 400 million km.The Mars orbiter will orbit the Earth till November 30 and then its motors will be fired to push it towards the red planet.For nearly 300 days, the motor will be off while the spacecraft floats through the inky void towards Mars.When the spacecraft nears Mars, the motors will be restarted and fired again to carry out manoeuvres to put it in Martian orbit around September 2014.