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India Launches 10 Satellites At Once
freakxx writes "India sets a world record after launching 10 satellites in one go using its workhorse, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). All the satellites were put into their respective orbits successfully. It was the core-alone version of the launch vehicle weighing 230 tonnes with a payload of 824 kg in total. Two of the satellites were Indian satellites, while the rest were from different countries. By this launch, the ISRO has proven its credibility and it is going to boost India's image in the attractive multi-billion commercial market of satellite launches. This was the 12th successful launch of the PSLV."
Suddenly, I'm worried I won't have to imagine a Beowolf cluster of satellites...
Sorry.
Is crushing a suspect's child's testicles illegal?
John Yoo: "No, [if] the President thinks he needs to do that."
You ever seen how many people they can pack in a single traincar?
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
It's like the Chinese causing earthquakes by all jumping off a chair at the same time: you just need a teeter-totter and 127-million Indians all jumping on the other end at once...
did you not read the article? maybe with this new program they will be able to feed them all.
But what about those 1 billion people (ok, number out of ass, but you get the point) that are starving to death and live in horrible conditions?
Leave it to a Mac fanboi to make everything into a joke about Vista tech support.
One of the satellites is made by students at Aalborg University.
You can follow the status here:
http://aausatii.space.aau.dk/eng/
because as a world there is enough wealth to end hunger.
Yet we don't because it is not so PC to remove the many reasons for that hunger. We also do not have the stomach for it (no pun intended) because it would cost us lives to remove the leadership that routinely starves their own populations.
India is coming forward rapidly, by advancing space science they advance all their sciences. They also give their people something to strive for - something they can show children that India is and what they can become. Let alone the fact that satellites provide better weather monitoring , can track crops and movement of animals. The possibilities of helping their own are a hundredfold, let alone what they can do for others.
Oh, before you troll India again I must ask, did you buy food out this week? If so, why? There are lots of poor people who could have used it in rice to feed a family... so why didn't you help? Oh, yeah, thats because its easier to be a forum troll and blame others for not doing instead of doing yourself.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Someone should tell the European Union about this way of launching satellites... then the politicians might stop wasting vast amounts of European taxpayers money on their own vastly over-budget but completely worthless GPS system, using the tracking of road drivers as one excuse for it's existence.
Take Nobody's Word For It.
Isn't this supposed to be the century India passes China as the most populous nation on earth? Those folks are going to need jobs.
Invenio via vel creo
2. What better way to improve living conditions than to become a hub for space technology?
3. I think you may be under some misconceptions about the state of Indian rural life as compared to, for example, the state of Mississippi.
If you're not sure that you know what you're talking about, perhaps you should do some research. If you had, you'd be able to say something like:
India has twice the poverty rate of, for example, the U.S., though that has dropped substantially since their independence and is widely seen as a potential model for a rapid exit from third-world status for other nations.
<sarcasm class='troll-feed'>
It's terrible, isn't it, that all foreign people are starving to death in their billions.
Just as well there aren't any poor people in the USA - and hey, those little adventures in the Middle East have really paid off there, haven't they?
</sarcasm>
In seriousness, there are much better ways to phrase what is, essentially, a valid question.
Is crushing a suspect's child's testicles illegal?
John Yoo: "No, [if] the President thinks he needs to do that."
last year. But still, it's impressive. Although I think they're putting them in SSO and not LEO just yet.
Of one day looking up and really noticing that the available amounts of sunlight has been diminishing due to the rampant expansion of tracking and communications satellites being pushed into orbit by all the nations of the earth.
Then we begin to see the outcome as diminished crops, rampant expansion of the polar ice belts, strange drops in cancer rates from excessive sunlight exposure in bikini clad Caucasian women;... And some strange little guy on the global news service saying something about "the sky is falling; the sky is falling!"...
All content in this message is copyright (c) 2008. All rights reserved. RIAA is prohibited here.
2) High tech stuff like this creates jobs for academics and skilled workers, who'll be part of India's growing middle class. I believe that creating wealth top-down, by having wealth trickle down from an affluent and productive middle class to the poor, works a hell of a lot better than forever "giving that man a fish to eat".
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
I think this is an argument similar to those put forward by some Americans against NASA's space programme. And I think the reply to both is the same: The respective Governments are not wasting the entire nation's wealth in the development of space technology and exploration - they do that elsewhere!
Most of the above posts make fun of India. Well I must say that this record is quite impessive considering all the fuss the ESA made over their launch of two satellites in a row few years ago.
Few things I have noticed the last years:
Sure they still have a long road ahead (poverty, bureaucracy, nationalism, protectionism,akward traditions, etc.) but they are definitely on the right path.
http://www.chilloutzone.de/files/08040701.html
If you could understand what they say in Japanese, it would be more fun. Someone talks to the pushers, '"It must be hard to do this everyday". And the pushers say "OK now, puuuuussh!" "hey a leg is sticking out!"
Stop whining ... everytime someone (esp India) does something worthwhile, all of a sudden poverty is visible and no other accomplishments. Have you done home work on the % of people who live below poverty line in US of A ? Get a grip and stop the rant, for once admire something, even if it is for few seconds.
Indians will eventually solve their problems.
R
We seem to have trouble each time we launch a single space shuttle. . . .
Part of the hardcore faithful who believed in Apple long before it was cool again to do so
I'm always amazed by this kind of arrogance towards developing nations. This kind of comment is seen any time there's a post about the OLPC project, for example.
Do you really think it would be productive if the government of India spent its entire time trying to directly alleviate hunger and poverty? Don't you think that encouraging industries that provide high-paying jobs is a good part of a long-term strategy to improve people's lives?
More to the point, did it never occur to you as a (presumably) well-educated, technically-inclined person that education, science and technology were part of the solutions to the developing world's problems, not just a distraction?
-Esme
as M.I.R.V.s.
against the United Gulags of America.
Nuclear Proliferatingly Yours,
George W. Bush.
âoeFirst they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.â
I guess India's up to step 2.
Just remember, the technological curve that India's on is a lot sharper than the one the US has had, and the last 8 years of stunting science in the US by the current administration is only going to hurt long-term.
--iamnotayam
Too bad it wasn't 8 satellites, then they could have named them: Anoop, Uma, Nabendu, Poonam, Priya, Sandeep, Sashi and Gheet - and then the rocket itself would have been: Apu
On the good side, we don't have to worry about the US military weaponizing space, since the complete ineptitude of conservative ideology will soon leave the US without a means of even getting into space, or the money to put anything there.
Stay the course, fiscal conservatives! You still haven't hit rock bottom!
Look at how they used to pack passengers in Japanese trains in 1991 Video of Japanese train in 1991!!
India's New Cheap Fuel-less Bike
The Delfi-C3 sat is relying on the Amateur Radio operators around the world to help capture telemetry and forward it to their earth station. Pretty cool, in my book.
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
If you think that money makes you happier you are very wrong.
After having travel led many countries I can find people in rural India may not have electricity, may not have great roads but definitely they are happier than a lot of us folks.
The simplicity of rural life sometime make me wonder whether what we do is really worthwhile.
With no replacement yet in sight for its Shuttles, which are scheduled to be retired in 2010.
How terribly sad. Thanks, George Bush.
You realize that not all of India lives in poverty right? When foreign nations look at US news, they see guns in schools and that becomes their image of the US. When people travel to India/watch the news, they travel to rural areas to look at what life is like. They don't remember the urban cities, they remember the poor citizens walking back and forth from wells to get water.
Ignorance is another reputation the US has. Stop ruining our image, educate yourself before you start stating vacuous comments.
I just see this coming up on every forum. What people overlook is that India's population >> EUs population, can Europe concieve any (democratic)system working on that scale? "Assuming" the benefits of the space program are restricted to the 'elite' 10%, that number is much greater then the population of France/germany or any other european country.
~~johri.
That was my first thought.
For a while there I thought the world wouldn't end in a fiery apocalypse. Oh well.
Every time I read a comment like this, I don't know what to say.
Do you know what is the single biggest thing that has helped poor farmers all across India? Please visit http://www.echoupal.com/
It is a website for small farmers. Even for those farmers who don't have Internet, there are kiosks in villages where volunteers explain them and help them use the website.
Using this, the farmers network and help each other solve problems. Single biggest benefit of this has been spotting and eliminating corrupt middlemen who give unfairly low price to farmers and sell it for high price to traders. This one advantage is worth entire effort behind this initiative.
Unfortunately Western media does not find these stories interesting. They love to show poor hungry children begging for food. Then they get to portray the Western world as the noble minded donor.
The truth is even poor people want to work hard and improve their lifestyle. Information technology, Internet, communication infrastructure, is what will give them a chance. It is absolutely right thing if a poor country with a billion hungry people launches satellites. It is better than a rich country launching wars.
Nothing is foolproof, fools are too ingenious. - Murphy
I can't really think of anytime in history where wealth has been built from the bottom up!
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
I see your point, but surely you realize that postponing progress will not cure any problems in India or anywhere else. If we in the US had put our space program off until all our citizens were fed, we'd still be on the ground. Ditto everyone else in space. If you feel badly about world hunger, I could suggest a few nice charities you could give to ...
I prefer rogues to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.
They were born into that lower caste because they were MS-DOS users in their past lives.
Wasn't Iridium at some point going to launch 12 or 16 at a time before that whole mess fell through?
What ever happened to all those plans for "Internet in the sky" with constellations of hundreds of satellites? Pie in the sky? Guess so.
Sssh! There are Democrats here and it's an election year so they're bound to claim otherwise, as silly as that may be.
I thought the US Air Force had acquired their own launch vehicles once they realized they couldn't rely on the shuttle.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
The Indians have it beat by a mile:
http://taz.de/blogs/wp-inst/wp-content/blogs.dir/44/files/2007/02/043%20overcrowded%20train%20India.jpg
Mmmm.. Donuts
My understanding is that this vehicle had more than one amateur radio satellite on board, as well.
Paul Anderson
"I drank WHAT?!" -- Socrates
I guess you should improve your GK about the world's second fastest growing economy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_India
I am an Indian. I live in New Delhi. Having a a fair amount of exposure to the business world (2 decades), I have experienced more than my share of arrogance and well, I also have experienced the brilliance of the people from US and Europe. Things are changing, attitudes to Indians are becoming a little more respectful (though we tend to exasperate a lot of people with our casual attitude at times ...)
India had made immense investments in education, science, technology, poverty alleviation schemes and infrastructure etc... though not always wisely, efficiently and hardly ever in ways free from corruption and exploitation by the political-business interest groups,
Thankfully, something still got through to the people and they made the best use of it.
That is the story of India: We are making it despite the government, which much to its dismay (any govt in power, I am happy to say, is discovering this), is finding that it has to give back to the people something, else it gets voted out of power.
Democracy rocks. In India, it may be chaotic, but at the end of the day it works.
I dunno why. :)
I am loving it!
Capitalism is the Opium of the Masses; Customer is King is the slogan.
MIRV Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle.
If I were Pakistan I'd be very concerned.
Is buying a Harley Davidson as your first motorcycle since you were 16 at age 49 a midlife crisis issue?
think maybe you're supposed to notice these things could've been warheads rather than sattelites?
I'm just asking.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Here's a funny thought:
1. India has nukes. (It also sits on huge reserves of Thorium and has breeder reactors, so it can transform them to uranium or eventually plutonium, as needed.)
2. If you can put an object in orbit, you can make it come down wherever you want it to come down. Or use a smaller rocket and/or a heavier load to make them go ballistic instead of orbitting at all. (For reference, the USSR's space program started the other way around. Someone realized that they had build a rocket so powerful to haul nukes, that it could put a small-ish object in orbit.) Rockets are that interchangeable purpose.
3. Inclined/polar orbits? Always good to have for a nuke, if nothing else, to hit a location that's not near the equator. Plus you might want to go extremely inclined to minimize flight time and thus warning time (I think both the USA and the USSR had most of their nukes aimed at each other over the arctic), or to lob them over international waters and avoid pissing off everyone else in their path.
As a bonus: once you can do polar orbits and big payloads, you can use spy sats.
Now I'm not saying India is necessarily aiming to become an ICBM power. Maybe, maybe not. And they're probably not yet ready to willy-wave internationally about it, in any case. But I'm saying I wouldn't be the least surprised if that was at least one factor in funding that space program.
I still remember seeing the news on TV when they had built their first nuke, and the general euphoria. It was waay back, while they were even poorer than today. Arguably that money could have been better invested in industrializing a little faster. But there were people cheering in the streets that they now have a big destructive weapon. I can see a lot of political capital in the implicit "and now we can lob it at anyone too!" message.
Now I'm not singling India out there. I think they're just... humans, like everyone else. And it's a sad thing that we'd rather have a big stick to threaten the neighbours with, than an extra slice of bread.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
The ignorance of some Slashdot posters is beyond belief. The US had poor people too, when it launched the first Apollo mission. It still does today, when it's spending on national security is at least twice that of any other nation. Does this mean that it should bring technological advancement to a halt to feed the poor?? The government's job is to to set the country's direction. This creates jobs, creates investment, and eventually leads to better conditions for its citizens. It is not the government's job to make sure you've got food on the table - that responsibility is yours. We have a long way to go - but the only way to get there is by giving the people a sense of empowerment, by making them believe in their country and themselves.
That's sad. My Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle goes up to 11.....satellites.
The laws of probability forbid it!
Dude, you have to look at facts. not all one billion are under poverty. 400 million are middle class. 4 out top 10 billionaires are from India. If you don't know facts don't waste time writing..
GERONIMO!
(Oh, wrong Indian, umm, Natives..
(BTW, I have Native American blood (possibly Cherokee)in my veins, among French, German, Spanish, and Ethiopian...)
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Feed 1 billion people for a day, they will hunger tomorrow. Teach them techs, let them take over comp-sci, techs, and many other sector, and you will be the one starving tomorrow, while they will be starving less, and for more than a day.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
This is different than the US how ?
Actually, the (US Federal) Government's job is outlined in the Constitution and has nothing to do with anything you wrote. What the Government has chosen to do, however, is something else again.
The human female reaches reproductive maturity at age 12, before the teenage years. So what's wrong about teen pregnancies?
Nahhhhhhhhh!
My blog
Cue the "efficiency experts" strolling through NASA hallways and the subsequent outsourcing of US satellite delivery and deployment.
They already use Russian rocket parts to "keep costs down".
I read a story about the outsourcing of PREGNANCY to India
I've heard they're ramping up legal research outsourcing. Free-traders can mess with programmers and mothers and survive the criticism, but as soon as lawyers feel the squeeze, watch out! In America, you don't mess with lawyers.
Table-ized A.I.
...Pakistan goes to DEFCON 1.
Have gnu, will travel.
Please don't tell me you're that naive. While strictly in terms of health teen pregnancy may be fine but you have to consider the social aspects. The mother will probably drop out of school so there goes any chance of a decent job. It's a very stressful thing, especially when the fathers tend to leave, for someone so young and the upbringing of the child will undoubtedly suffer. Increase rate of suicide compared to other teenagers. There's a bunch of other problems too. Just type teenage pregnancy into google.
Wait ... the death penalty sig gives it away. Looks a lot like wierd Texas commune talk to me.
Well, the Russians had launched 13 satellites in one go last year with a total payload of 300 Kg. around, but the attempt had failed as it is reported at BBC-Hindi (http://www.bbc.co.uk/hindi/science/story/2008/04/080428_pslv_launch.shtml).
I think India is setting a perfect model of how to leap-frog a large number of people from abject poverty to comfortable lives - through a very judicious mixture of socialism to help the most needy and investing in advanced technology to reap it's longer term benefits.
this from a launch vehicle designed to carry a maximum of three satellites internally (the other seven were sitting on the roof).
Funny you didn't think that when the white boys (the Russians and us) thought this up in 1966.
I did... I was hoping that threat was done with.
Does every technological advancement by others have to be thought through the prism of a threat?
If that technological advancement is a weapon it probably should be. It's not like they accidently invented nuclear missles while trying to perfect nuclear power.
But that's not the point... mutually assured destruction and proportionate response doesn't work against a nation that only has a few weapons.
How do you know what I did and what I did not this week to help those people?
./...the epitome of justice, the American way. You get modded 5, insightful, because you reversed the question and asked me what I've done for the poor, while I ask the same question not to you, but to those people that throw their money away for 'space' (as if a few 100 km above the Earth's surface is actually space), and I get modded troll, -1.
I like
It's the syndrome of guilt, I can understand that...
Implementing and improving satellite technology will not result directly to improving the economy and the social state of the poor people, for the simple reasons that the benefits are not distributed to the people. The benefits go to the private corporations that are behind the technologies, the government that gets paid for launching satellites and those that use the satellites. The common folks have nothing to gain from it, even if the weather is monitored and crops are improved.
Anything else out of yer arse???
No, no and no. Economic development is the result of the distribution of wealth, not the result of advanced technological programs. I am all for space exploration and I back NASA and ESA up, because they have solved a big percentage of the problems of their people (although both USA and Europe are in decline)...but India? there is a large percentage of the population that still live in great poverty. Instead of throwing the money to space, they could have improved the social infrastructure, build better roads, schools and hospitals, and those things would be much more beneficial to Indians than launching satellites.
The rooting out of middlemen is the job of the government, it should not be the job of the people. In an organized society, it's the State that creates and enforces the laws about competitive practices and monopolies. What you say is like if Microsoft's anti-competitive practices where hunted by the people themselves and not the authorities.
The reason such cases exist in India and in other countries (middlemen that buy products in very low prices and sell them in very high practices) is because of the lack of any sort of organized checking on what goes about in the markets. It only shows how disorganized the Indian government is. That technology helped solve the problem does not make the issue go away.