Low-Budget Indian Satellite Launch

Geekonomical writes "On Thursday afternoon, for a mere 15 million U.S. dollars, India launched a meteorological satellite into geo-synchronous transfer orbit some 36,000 kilometres above the equator using a modified version of its highly successful space workhorse, the polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV). The article also claims that China spends 12 times as much as this for a launch!"

Comments

Cost effectiveness

[Anonymous Coward]

If they're truly doing that for a twelfth (what a horrid word) of the cost that China spends, the what the hell is China doing wrong?! Or does China send up a system 12 times better?

high-end labor in "3rd world" countries

[davejenkins]

A common argument in populist economics is that jobs go to the third world because of lower labor costs. Others counter this argument that it is unskilled labor, and that high-end technologically advanced labor stays within 'advanced' economies (US, Europe, Japan).

So-- is this a case that disproves the counterargument-- that even 'skilled' labor industries can skip to the third world, or is it an indictment against the regulatory pressures/infrastructure costs of trying to launch something under a US/EU umbrella?

There is clearly a glut of satellite launching capacity, yet prices have remained high because?

Re:high-end labor in "3rd world" countries

[cavetroll]

perhaps more interesting is the possiblities for space ttourism, at 1/12th the cost of China (and presumably Russia) then the cost to an individual to travel into space could fall drastically in the next few years. It would still be ridiculously expensive but affordable to more than the excessivly wealthy. With sufficantly quick developmet in this field (and a sufficiantly good safety record even at a lower cost) India may set themselves up as the first extra terrestial budget airline.