India's space agency ISRO sent a probe into orbit around Mars on its very first attempt, a feat no other agency had managed on a maiden voyage, and did it for roughly $73 million, less than Hollywood spent making the film Gravity. This episode unpacks the Mars Orbiter Mission, unofficially known as Mangalyaan, and how a brutal 15-month timeline and a tiny budget forced the team to reuse the spacecraft bus from the Chandrayaan lunar missions, lean on software simulations instead of costly ground tests, and work 18 to 20 hour days to catch the late 2013 launch window.

When cryogenic engine problems with the GSLV rocket threatened a three-year delay, ISRO switched to the smaller PSLV and used repeated orbit-raising burns at perigee to slingshot the craft toward Mars. We cover the November 2013 engine underburn caused by energizing both flow-co ...