File photo of scientists at work on India's Mars mission
First the good news. India's satellite for its maiden mission to Mars, the Mangalyaan and its rocket launch vehicle, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), are fully tested and ready.
But the bad news is that a cyclone lashing through the Pacific Ocean could slow things down. A final decision on whether the launch can take place on October 28 as per plan will be made only on Saturday when the final review is over.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said this as it conducted its final mission readiness review for Mangalyaan. The unmanned scientific satellite mission has cost India Rs 450 crore.
For the first time India is deploying two special ships hired from the Shipping Corporation of India - the Nalanda and the Yamuna will monitor the health and movement of India's rocket several minutes after the launch while it is coasting in the sky over the Pacific Ocean. This is a special requirement for the Mars mission.
According to ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan, the movement of Indian ships in the Pacific has been slowed down due to bad weather conditions. In a few days, the picture would be clearer.
The Mangalyaan satellite was today fully fuelled and the spacecraft is now being mated to its rocket at Sriharikota. Both the machines, according to Mr Radhakrishnan, are in a state of readiness to meet the first launch window.
This time of the year is always a worry for ISRO as the weather at Sriharikota is influenced by the cyclone season in the Bay of Bengal.
For the first time, the ISRO is worried about weather in far- away Pacific Ocean to arrive at an opportune launch window for India's first inter-planetary mission.