ISRO's PSLV rocket delivered a perfect launch to India’s ambitions of reaching Mars by parking the Mangalyaan spacecraft precisely outside Earth on Tuesday.
Photo Courtesy of ISRO)

Although ISRO insures satellites only if these are launched from foreign soils by foreign vehicles, the cost and risk involved in this mission are much higher. More than half of all missions to the red planet have failed, including those of China in 2011 and Japan in 2003. Only the US, Russia and the European Union have successfully reached the planet.

"It is a conscious decision not to insure the launch vehicle or the satellite. Isro's insurance requirements are sourced specifically from the four public sector insurers and insuring the launch vehicle or the satellite would mean payment of hefty premium to one of the PSU insurers," a senior ISRO official told The Economic Times.

"Payment of premium, in this case, is a mere transfer of funds from one government unit (ISRO, in this case) to another—the insurer. Instead, the money can be used to build new satellites and launch vehicles." Mangalyaan, a 1,350kg robotic satellite, blasted off from Sriharikota on a 10 month long, more than 200 million km journey to Mars.