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Planning Phase Complete For Indian Moon Mission
alphakappa writes "According to news reports, India's low-cost moon mission -- Chandrayan -- has completed its planning phase and will be deployed in 2007-2008 as planned. The interesting aspect is that the entire mission is expected to cost only around USD 88 million. How do you think space technology will change as a result of these low cost missions, satellites and space vehicles?"
$88 million is only a start. As space technology improves, expect to see greater cost savings and possibly very inexpensive space travel to anyone who wants it. But first, we need to increase reliability and speed of our current space vehicles. Otherwise, the cost savings would not be worth it.
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Does anyone know what Chandrayan means? Perhaps "moon"?
I think US just payed for a very expensive show.
... and the world gained Tang.
Yes, it was a very expensive show, fueled by the cold war competition with the soviets.
It was necesary, tho. They proved it was possible to take a human being into another celestial body and return him safely, and that's no mean feat.
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Hooray for 'deft' but I have been posting here for a while longer...... I've seen way to many cooler things than just another rambling on this website.
Are you seriously sugesting they should refrain from advancing themselves because the US (which is well known for sharing wit the rest of the world) has done it before?
Jeroen
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We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.
Kennedy 1962
His vision was not exclusive to the US. A national effort, borne of indigenous ability and resources, will do more for India and others like India then all the social programs and government bureaucracies you will ever imagine in your wildest nanny state dreams.
India, go forth. Take your $88 million and show us how it's done. Best wishes.
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
Yes, I can. Teflon was invented in 1938 by Roy Plunkett at DuPont, trademarked and first marketed in 1945. Google for "teflon invented".
I don't know how often I've heard the urban legend that Teflon was somehow related to space research. Doesn't make it right, though.
As a state gets corrupt, its laws multiply; the most corrupt states have the most numerous laws. (Tacitus, Annales 3:27)
By turns, I'm tired, frustrated, disgusted and amused by this argument that since India is not a "developed" nation, we should spend less (or nothing) on advanced technology and space missions. Lets consider hunger, shall we? The USA has approximately 25 million people requiring hunger relief (10% of the population?), while India has approximately 250 million (25% of the population). The USA's annual space budget is USD 12.5 billion, whereas India's is USD 500 million. So while the USA has 2.5 times less hungry people by ratio (and 10 times less by actual numbers), it spends 25 times more money than India on space research. Lets talk about uses. The moon mission is not an end in itself, and certainly its purpose is not to collect and analyze moon rocks. Think of the future. While space colonies may be far off, commercialization of space ventures (mining, materials, tourism, research) certainly isn't. Real-estate laws and rights are already under discussion and even sale. So, a mission to the moon is not so much a waste as an investment. India may be under-developed, but we know that being completely uncompetitive in major future opportunities is not exactly the way out. Besides, the space programme employs 16000 people, and provides inspiration to countless students, donors and citizens throughout the nation. I say its well worth it.
I don't want to read
Note that argument by moral equivalence is perfectly OK as long as moral equivalence is an adequate description category for the problem domain in question (i.e. the discussion is on a moral topic) and as long as participants share the same basic moral frame of reference on the subject, which is probably the case in this discussion (we both disapprove of countries wasting money needed for education of the poor etc.). For reference (note that the debate is about morality already when I make my point):
[Story] $COUNTRY is spending $MONEY on space research.
Also note that my main point is not even argument by moral equivalence, it's argument by equivalence in substance (the money is actually being spent). It certainly does have a moral implication at this point of the discussion, though.
As a state gets corrupt, its laws multiply; the most corrupt states have the most numerous laws. (Tacitus, Annales 3:27)
GLSV wouldn't make a very good ICBM, but if they wanted to weaponize that capability, it wouldn't take much work. However, they already have missiles with enough range to deter the other regional powers (Pakistan, China) and have no real reason to worry about the US, EU or Russia.
Developing space technology, OTOH, gives them national prestige, technical advancement, and the chance to profit from selling space services.
The fact that one country has more people suffering than another does not make the suffering of those affected any different.
If it is wrong for India to use money on large projects when they have people suffering, then it is also wrong for the US (or any other country).
The thing is, if you focus exclusively on addressing poverty through short term measures, your country will stagnate and fall behind and your economy will collapse, and you will end up worse off than when you started - innovative projects that push technology is a necessity. Yes, it needs to be balanced against other needs, but 88 million is hardly much considering that the US for instance spends hundreds of billions on it's military per year, and about half a billion per shuttle launch.
The president of the country is a missile scientist and has been involved in many of the most significant adavances in the Indian missile/nuclear field. http://www.geocities.com/siafdu/kalam.html Although, in the Indian system, the president has few executive responsibilities and powers (the prime minister is the head of government), the amount of respect bestowed upon the man is a sign that scientific accomplishment is held in high regard in the country. Little wonder that this mission and other high technology endeavors do get their well deserved allotment of resources. -mp-
-mp-
Disclaimer : the following anecdote was not verified by me first hand, but given what I know, it sounds very reasonable.
Circa 1978, the Morvi dam in the state of Gujarat burst. The flooding and the resultant loss of life and property was huge. The event made front-page headlines in India. One of the more curious aspects of this incident was apparently that the Indian government was clueless about the occurrence of this disaster, but the US spy satellites in orbit detected the event. The Indian government was informed by the US about the disaster.
At that time, ISRO (the Indian space agency) had been in existence for many many years - but their funding was more of an afterthought. This incident opened the eyes of many to the strategic value of a space presence. As a result, circa 1982, India put its first satellite into space.
People in the US may not appreciate the usefulness of a space presence. The following information was gleaned from a documentary funded by the UN :
India went onto launch many more satellites - a lot of of them for weather forecasting. The neighbouring country of Bangladesh is located in the delta of two major rivers. Flooding is a perpetual annual problem. Subsequent to the Indian weather satellites being available, the UN sponsored the use of the weather forecasting data that was available to provide an early warning system for flooding due to cyclones (known as hurricanes in the US). The first year this was done, the loss of life was 150,000. The previous year it had been 300,000. And no, I am not making these numbers up.
There is no such thing as luck. Luck is nothing but an absence of bad luck.
First of all, you Americans need to stop thinking that you can solve the world's problems. You have been told this for decades, but you apparently haven't got it yet. I'm not going to bore you with your own history, but I will point to the marvellous job you did with Iraq.
Secondly, it has become very clear that the majority of you think of India in a very one-dimensional way. e.g. Everyone in India is uneducated and living on dirt farms without modern conveniences. I would like to point out that the Indian state of Kerala was the first in the world to achieve complete 100% literacy, a feat that no state of America or Western state (to my knowledge) has been able to accomplish. India has a wealth of educational opportunities and very few Indians do not take advantage of this. I have been to many cities in the US, and I must say that my own home city of Cochin has much better living conditions overall than most of what I saw.
Also, many states of Southern India are more heavily wired than most states of the US. I know of very few people who do not own a mobile. In addition, you can't drive half a kilometer on NH-47 (a National Highway) without passing by at least three internet stations.
For the longest time you have believed you are the only ones "allowed" to have technology and this is very untrue. India has problems, I agree, but claiming that every penny needs to be spent on "hospitals" and "schools" makes absolutely no sense. Obviously you do not know how your own country came up to its level and the role technology and the space program played in it.
The bottom line is you don't understand India or any other nation, and you never will. Don't think you can solve our problems, at least until you've fixed your own.
Also, on a side note, please stop whining about losing your jobs to us (while sitting fat on your couch sucking disability money). This problem is entirely your own.