The Indian Space Research Organization (Isro), which, according to all official claims, is reported to have spent Rs 450 crore on the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), did not even spend the whole of that shoestring budget.

BCCL

An austere Isro managed to save Rs 2.61 crore which it promptly returned to the Centre, reaffirming MOM to be the world's cheapest mission to the red planet, at a cost of Rs 447.39 crore.

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Documents revealing the audited expenditure of all Isro projects in the last five years reveal that MOM isn't the only such project. Though Isro sought Rs 892.69 crore to launch the GSAT-15 communication satellite, the Centre released only Rs 830.88 crore. But Isro, which launched GSAT-15 last November, completed the project using just Rs 806.4 crore, saving Rs 24.48 crore.

Similarly, it had sought Rs 897.94 crore for GSAT-16 but got only Rs 865 crore and the space agency went on to complete the project with Rs 864.12 crore.

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"Unlike the Mars mission, which was a one-time project when cleared, the GSAT programme envisages launching several more satellites.

Therefore, the money saved from its launch is with Isro to be used for future satellites," a senior official said.