posted 11-09-2016 12:32 PM               

Mangalyaan money: India celebrates Mars Orbiter Mission on new banknote

Three years (and five days) after it was launched to circle Mars, India's first interplanetary probe is now entering circulation on the back side of the country's new banknote.

The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday (Nov. 8) revealed the new bill, part of the "Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series" of banknotes, which features an illustration on its reverse of the Indian Space Research Organization's Mangalyaan or Mars Orbiter Mission that was launched on Nov. 5, 2013. The bill has a face value of 2000 rupees (about $30 U.S.), making it India's highest denomination of currency.