Isro's Mars Orbiter Cracks Jokes on Twitter; Says Howdy to Nasa's Mars Curiosity

As India entered the history books with the insertion of its maiden Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) into the Martian orbit early Wednesday, Nasa's 2012 Mars mission Curiosity, Isro's Mars Orbiter and Nasa's 2014 Mars mission Maven that entered the Mars orbit September 21, exchanged fun tweets.

"The #MAVEN team congratulates @Isro for its #Mars arrival! @MarsOrbiter joins the missions studying the Red Planet," read the tweet from Nasa's Mars Mission twitter handle @MAVEN2Mars.

Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) welcomed it with a "Namaste".

"Namaste, @MarsOrbiter! Congratulations to @Isro and India's first interplanetary mission upon achieving Mars orbit," it tweeted.

To this, Isro's Mars Orbiter (@MarsOrbiter) replied, "Howdy @MarsCuriosity? Keep in touch. I'll be around."

Later, Isro's Mars Orbiter tweeted, "I'll be back after breakfast. Good ol' sunlight. It's good for your battery."

The first tweet by Isro's Mars Orbiter was in the early hours of Wednesday, soon after entering Mars Orbit, saying, "What is red, is a planet and is the focus of my orbit?"

It certainly appears as if the Isro 'Mangalyaan' Mars Orbiter Mission has a crack team to handle its Twitter account, and so far, has gained more than 51,000 followers despite just the 3 above tweets. Its profile description is also quite witty, reading, "India's first mission to Mars. Orbiting the Red Planet since Sep 24, 2014. Explorer. Loves science, photography and long cruises."

Written with inputs from IANS