India is counting down the hours until it launches its own orbiter into space that will head to Mars, the Associated Press reported.

The launch it set for Tuesday and India and, if all goes as planned, will be the fourth space agency to read Mars, following the U.S., Europe and the Soviet Union. Mangalyaan, which means "Mars craft" in Hindi, will display the country's technological advances and gather information for future space missions.

"We have a lot to understand about the universe, the solar system where we live in, and it has been humankind's quest from the beginning," said K. Radhakrishnan, chairman of the Indian Space and Research Organization. "We want to use the first opportunity to put a spacecraft and orbit it around Mars and, once it is there safely, then conduct a few meaningful experiments and energize the scientific community."

But launching is by no stretch a guarantee to reach the Red Planet. In fact, India's odds are probably less than 50-50 in historical context. No country has ever been successful in reaching Mars on the first try and out of the 40 total attempts only 23 have succeeded. Japan tried in 1999 and China tried in 2011 and both failed.

On the other hand, if India can pull off its "technology demonstration," as Radhakrishnan called the mission, it would join a small group that is pioneering deep-space exploration. NASA is currently planning its next Mars mission and has successfully sent rovers and orbiters to the Red Planet. Still, the U.S. is rooting for company on Mars.

"We're pulling for India," said Bruce Jakosky, project leader for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission (MAVEN). "The more players we have in space exploration the better."

Bharath Gopalaswamy, a Chennai native and the deputy director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council, told the Washington Post the mission is also about proving something to the rest of the world. India's unheralded space program is about 50 years old and the country is very proud of it.

"It's a national milestone for the country to conquer territories beyond planet Earth," said Gopalaswamy. "India has its own ambitions. Just because we're poor doesn't mean we shouldn't have any ambitions. That's not the way we think about ourselves, right?"