Slashdot Mirror
India Debating Manned Space Flight
alphakappa writes "India's moon mission and other space programs have been covered before on Slashdot. India is now debating sending a manned space mission and has acknowledged it's technological preparedness to do so in the next 6-7 years if given the go-ahead. The issues being debated before starting work on the mission include cost-benefit and other space priorities. (These missions also play host to international experiments) What does the general slashdot crowd think of these space plans?"
I would be more impressed if they could feed the millions of poor in the Indian sub-continent. Sure, a manned space shot by India would be impressive, but it matters very little to the man on the streets of Bombay who has to beg in order to feed his family.
Ed Almos
Budapest, Hungary
The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws. - Tacitus, 56-120 A.D.
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/india_statist
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Manned spaceflight has already been done 30+ years ago. The technology is there to do it. What China and India are doing is simply re-inventing the wheel.
Ok its good for a country to have their own facilities from which they can launch satellites etc, but shouldn't we have a broader planet-wide space program ? Countries around the world should be collaborating in order to achieve the next big thing. Not just go at it by themselves in order to boost national pride.
My 2 cents.
A million monkeys and this is the best sig they could come up with...
I find it slightly disturbing that India is considering manned spaceflight at this point. I think there are other areas in that country that the money would be better spent on. India is developing at race pace, but there's still a lot of poverty.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
Is it really necessary for a developing country to spend the huge amount of money into the space program? And is it the right time to do it? Poverty is still a problem, and many children don't have the chance to go to school. Shouldn't the money be spent on improving education and helping the poor first?
The money could also be spent on developing better infrastructures such as transportation, power and water supply. There are places with frequent power outage, and there are places without tap water. There are heavy pollution problems in major cities as well.
The researches from the space program could be beneficial, however there are many other types of researches with more direct impacts. How about research for agricultural advances, to feed more hungry people? How about research for prevention and care for SARS? We might be able to find the answers in space, but with the same amount of money and effort, I believe we can make better progress researching on Earth now.
With recent advances in computers and robotics, we don't have to send people into space. We can remotely control robots to do the dirty and risky tasks. Except for specific research of biological effect on the human body, there is no benefit of putting a real person into the spacecraft. It is much cheaper and more effective to have unmanned space mission, I suspect manned missions are just for the sake of national pride.
The world can be a better place if we leave nationalism behind, and think collectively in terms on the whole mankind.