Slashdot Mirror
India Test-Fires Cryogenic Rocket Engine
alphakappa writes "Wired News reports that India has successfully testfired a cryogenic rocket engine that can be used to 'launch high-altitude satellites, send a man to the moon -- or build intercontinental ballistic missiles'. The rocket which typically has to fire for 12 minutes during flight was fired for 17 minutes during ground testing. So are we gonna see competition in the moon race? Remember, India has already spoken about sending a mission to the moon and it has joined the Galileo consortium along with China."
anyone comes out and spouts the "stolen or bought technology" meme, the Wired article says
India's bid to develop its own cryogenic engines suffered several setbacks. In 1992, Russia agreed to give India the technology but reversed the decision after Moscow signed the Missile Technology Control Regime with the United States. Washington objected to giving India the technology because of its potential use for nuclear missiles.
Russia later agreed to sell fully built engines, without passing on the technology, to India.
India developed a rudimentary form of its cryogenic technology in 2001 and several tests were held after that to fine-tune it.
It does have to do with freezing of sorts, because the gases that are required for fuel oxygen and hydrogen (as well as a mixture of others) are gaseous in normal atmospheric conditions. They are required to be cooled down to a liquid state, hence the name "cryogenic rocket engine".
Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!
A nice article on Cryogenic Rocket engines is available here .
Hmm, let me see, from India's perspective , the bigger challanges are ....
Poverty :- The country's wealth is divided by the 90-10 rule. i.e. 10% of the population has 90% of the wealth.
:- More than 50%. And since being literate means being able to sign your name, the actual figures could be as high as 70-75% :- Forget the politicians , I can't get my mail if I don't tip my postman. :- One of the world's worst . So much Red tape everywhere. :- Barring major cities, public transport is a mess and not every one can afford their own vehicle. Road/Rail accidents account for most no. of deaths in the country.
Illiteracy
Rampant Political/Economical and Social Corruption
Infrastructure
Transportation and Safety
Disaster Recovery:- No set plans and procedures for natural disaster recovery from floods , famines, fires etc. People are left at the mercy of nature and rehabilitation is a joke.
I am not a westerner trying to judge india, I am an indian , humbly pointing out what our top priorities should be.
for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
As for being peace-loving, that's what everybody says themselves to be.
Hell is not other people; it is yourself. - Ludwig Wittgenstein
Actually, there is significant evidence that points to the American deployment of Jupiter missiles in Turkey as the cause of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kruschev never publicly admitted it, and frequently gave multiple different vague reasons for the USSR's nuclear involvement in Cuba. Years after the crisis, it was revealed that in order to get the Russians to back down, Kennedy agreed to remove the missiles from turkey within a year or two. This was one of the Russian's chief demands, but Kennedy insisted that it not be publicly revealed so that he could be seen as a public hero who was tough on the Russians for the upcoming election.
The other leading cause for the Cuban Missile Crisis was the missile gap. A number of other factors definitely contributed, so much so that there isn't really historical agreement on the subject at all.