Success for India's cut-price mission to Mars

India's cut-price mission to Mars has successfully entered the red planet's orbit.

The Mars Orbiter Mission cost $74 million, which is roughly three-quarters of the amount it took to make Oscar-winning movie 'Gravity' about astronauts stranded in space.

After completing the 666 million km (414 million miles) journey in a little over 10 months, the spacecraft called Mangalyaan will now study the red planet's surface and scan its atmosphere.

It will not land on the planet.

It will be in the company of NASA's spacecraft Maven, which slipped into an orbit around Mars on Sunday with an aim to scan the planet's upper atmosphere.

Maven cost $671 million, which is around 10 times the price tag of the Indian mission's stated cost.

More: Nasa's Maven spacecraft enters Mars orbit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the success was a "near impossible" push to complete the trip on its maiden attempt.