Indian mission to Mars enters final hours

India will soon know if its first interplanetary mission will achieve its goal, when a spacecraft built with home-grown technology for a remarkably low price tag of US $75m begins its final manoeuvres into orbit around Mars.

If the Mars Orbiter Mission, affectionately nicknamed MOM, takes its position on Wednesday as planned, India will join the US, the European Space Agency and the former Soviet Union in the elite club of Martian explorers.