A dramatic new chapter was opened in the more and more complicated history of BlackBerry Limited. The plan of acquisition by Canadian financial holding company Fairfax Financial failed, an alternative agreement was started that still involves Fairfax together with other companies and it a change of CEO was decided.
The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) has just started with the launch from the Sriharikota base in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. After less than one hour, the space probe has successfully inserted in the orbit scheduled for the first stage of its mission.
MOM is the first attempt of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the Indian space agency, to show the technology necessary to an interplanetary mission, meaning those needed to develop the spacecraft and its instruments, send it to another planet and manage the various stages of its journey communicating with it. The space probe is informally nicknamed Mangalyaan, which in Sanskrit means Mars craft.
