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India releases blurry image of giant Mars craters taken by orbiting satellite

Associated Press
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Indian school children pose for photographs with a poster of Mars Orbiter Mission satellite as they celebrate its success in Chennai, India, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014. India triumphed in its first interplanetary mission, placing a satellite into orbit around Mars on Wednesday and catapulting the country into an elite club of deep-space explorers. (AP Photo/Arun Sankar K) (The Associated Press)

Indian Space Research Organisation scientists watch screens display the graphics explaining Mars Orbiter Mission at their Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network complex in Bangalore, India, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014. India triumphed in its first interplanetary mission, placing a satellite into orbit around Mars on Wednesday morning and catapulting the country into an elite club of deep-space explorers. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi) (The Associated Press)

This image provided by the Indian Government Press Information Bureau shows what the agency says is one of the first images of the surface of Mars taken by India’s Mars Orbiter Mission satellite, on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014. The image was taken while the Martian Orbiter Mission, or MOM, was about 7,300 kilometers (4,536 miles) from the planet's surface, according to the Indian Space and Research Organisation. It took at least 12 minutes for the digital data to reach Earth. (AP Photo/Press Information Bureau) (The Associated Press)

India's space agency has released an image of Mars taken by the nation's first interplanetary spacecraft.

The blurry image showing a surface pockmarked with giant craters was taken after the Martian Orbiter Mission, affectionately nicknamed MOM, took its position above the red planet.

The Indian Space and Research Organisation says the satellite was about 7,300 kilometers (4,536 miles) from the planet's surface when the image was snapped on Wednesday. It takes about 12 minutes for the digital data to reach Earth.

Space agency scientists released the image Thursday after first showing it to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.