India announced plans to launch a mars mission in 2013. The orbital problem will circle around the planet to monitor its climate and geology. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

India announced plans to launch a mars mission in 2013. The orbital problem will circle around the planet to monitor its climate and geology.

AFP reported that India is planning a  large scale space program that will eventually launch a first manned mission on the red planet on 2016. India plans to be the first Asian country to do so.

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"We will embark on the Mars mission after the Department of Science gives the green signal and decides the schedule early next year," Deviprasad Karnik, director of the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told AFP.

The launch site will be at Sriharikota in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The Indian space program is planning to launch a 320 ton Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The mission will cost around 4.0 to 5.0 billion rupees, or about $70 to $90 million dollars, according to a statement from an anonymous senior official at ISRO given to the AFP.

The Indian government has set aside 1.25 billion rupees for the space program. The space program started in 1963, and it went on to develop satellites and launch vehicles. It suffered a setback in December 2010 after a satellite launch vehicle deviated from its flight path and blew up over the Bay of Bengal.

The space program ihas already discovered amazing finds/ In September 2009, the Chandrayaan-1 satellite discovered water on the moon. This finding increased its credibility to the international space programs of many other countries.