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by wippler 4365 days ago
Its Mars orbiter, not lander.
2 comments

Precisely what I was thinking, I wonder what's all the discussion about, the MOM will be inserted into a highly elliptical orbit around Mars, with a planned periapsis of 365 km (227 mi) and apoapsis of 80,000 km (50,000 mi) [1]. It will not even come close Mars's atmosphere. Wouldn't that take contamination out of the question completely?

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Orbiter_Mission

Orbiter may crash on the surface (not sure if it'll burn like an asteroid).

Happened with NASA in 1999 : http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,288...