India has entered the next phase of its mission to Mars, officially leaving Earth's orbit and on course to reach the Red Planet in about 300 days.

According to BBC News, the Mangalyaan spacecraft, or Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), blasted its engine for more than 20 minutes to give it the velocity to leave the Earth's atmosphere.

The desired date for MOM to reach Mars is Sept. 24, 2014. Once there, the probe will primarily search for methane gas in the Martian atmosphere, as well as perform other experiments. India's space agency has maintained all along the mission is also meant to display the country's technological advances.

With a series of engine bursts, the craft has gradually heightened its orbit around the Earth, building up altitude and speed to sling its way toward Mars. Mangalyaan launched from India on Nov. 5, earlier this year. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chief K Radhakrishnan said the latest achievement went without much trouble.

"Earth orbiting phase of the #Mangalyaan ended and now is on a course to encounter Mars after a journey of about 10 months around the Sun," read MOM's official Twitter account.

"Getting to Mars is a big achievement," Mayank Vahia, an astronomy and astrophysics professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, told Reuters. "You have to slow the spacecraft down once it gets close to Mars, to catch the orbit, but you can't wait until Mars is in the field of view to do it - that's too late."

The U.S. already knows about the stress of reaching Mars. It is the culmination of the launch, the journey and the mission on the whole. Landing Curiosity on the Red Planet's surface sent basically all of NASA and many American citizens into a joyous frenzy.

Not too many space agencies are successful in reaching Mars and especially not on the first try. For India, success could mean a jolt in contracts and other space missions because of its lower price tag.

"Given its cost-effective technology, India is attractive," said Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, an expert on space security at the Observer Research Foundation think-tank in Delhi.

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