SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Friday launched a 21-day analog space mission to simulate conditions on Mars and moon in Ladakh area near China border in disputed Jammu and Kashmir region.

The ISRO said the mission will “simulate life in an interplanetary habitat to tackle the challenges of a base station beyond earth.”

It seeks to recreate conditions similar to those found on Mars and the moon, taking into account Ladakh's mix of desert and arctic climate and distinctive landscape, with temperatures ranging from 3 to 35 °C (37 to 95F) in summers and −20 to −35 °C in winters.

The region experiences heavy snowfall during winter.

The collaborative mission is designed to mimic the challenges astronauts would encounter in extreme environments on other celestial bodies.

The ISRO said that the mission was a joint effort with its Human Spaceflight Centre, the University of Ladakh, IIT-Bombay, and Aaka Space Studio, an architecture firm.

It supports the country’s Gaganyaan program and future projects, such as the Bharatiya Space Station, helping it to prepare for space missions.

In September last year, India launched its first space mission to study the sun.

Aditya-L1 spacecraft would study the sun from a point about 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) from Earth.

Notably, Ladakh is a federally ruled territory since Aug. 5, 2019 when India degraded and divided Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories.