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India To Launch Mars Orbiter "Mangalyaan" Tuesday
sfcrazy writes "On Tuesday (Mangalwaar) the Indian Space and Research Organization (ISRO) will launch the Mars orbiter Mangalyaan from Satish Dhawan Space Centre. The spaceship will take over 10 months to reach Mars and, if everything goes well, it would make India the first country to send a payload to Mars in its first attempt, and would beat close rival China whose recent mission failed."
if everything goes well, it would make India the first country to send a payload to Mars in its first attempt
"Challenge accepted."
But after they are done, Mars will say "Thank you, come again," right?
Malgal - Mars Yaan - spacecraft/probe
Mangal - Mars Yaan - probe/craft
In case anyone was wondering, the US succeeded on the country's second attempt to launch a mission to Mars. This was the Mariner 4 flyby launched Nov 28, 1964. The first US attempt, the identical Mariner 3, failed three weeks earlier when the shroud on the launch vehicle failed to open properly.
The second attempt by the US to orbit Mars was also successful; Mariner 9 in 1971 became the first (human) probe to orbit Mars (or any other planet), followed within a month by the Russian Mars 2 and Mars 3.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploration_of_Mars
No pressure. You only get one first.
Muggle - Mars Yawn - spaceprobe/craft
Awesome now that India has their poverty and corruption issues finally solved.
Just like all the other slightly-spacefaring nations?
Science research and development, engineering, and technical progress is arguably more useful for moving societal issues forwards. The byproduct is better education, a smarter population, and better job opportunities. You can spend money trying to fix social problems all you want, but ultimately people need to know that their future is secure, their bellies can be filled, and they can support themselves beyond any one-off public spending not to be recovered. Claiming that poverty or corruption need be "solved" first is a recipe for disaster and not compatible with what happens in all of the developed world (which still has poverty and corruption to a small but significant extent).
Hey, it's not like there are hundreds of millions of Indian kids who don't have access to clean water and are therefore at risk of major infections.
Oh.
Wait.
It is.
I for one welcome our Martian Bollywood Overlords, but wish they followed Vishnu not Kali.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
if everything goes well, it would make India the first country to send a payload to Mars in its first attempt,
That's i really big "If".
The USSR failed on their first 8 attempts starting in 1960. They managed to get some our moon on the ninth attempt five years later, still not successful in getting to Mars though. They managed to make Mars orbit in 1971 after 11 failed attempts. Granted, this was very early in manned space flight. Even so, failure is still a very common outcome for any nation attempting it. The EU made it to orbit in 2004, but the lander did not make it. Between 1988 and 1999, the US had three Mars missions that failed, The USSR/Russia 3, and Japan had one as well. In that 11 year span only the US Mars Global Surveyor and Pathfinder missions were successful.
It's not easy to get there, but I certainly wish India the best of luck doing it on the first try. That would be quite a feat.
I agree in general but still sending a probe to Mars is a political stunt to show India is also coming up, not just China. There are million things India could be investing money into that would bring a better return in areas that you mention than this.
Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
Hey, it's not like there are hundreds of millions of Indian kids who don't have access to clean water ...
No problem. There's water on Mars.
Yea a rocket to mars is more important than the disease, sanitation and starvation issues they have.
Awesome now that India has their poverty and corruption issues finally solved.
Just like all the other slightly-spacefaring nations?
I live in the United States, a country that has sent many probes to Mars and beyond, and there's really no poverty here, we are an exceptional nation. Our biggest problem is all these people who live off food stamps. Once we stop the food stamps, we'll be even more exceptional.
"Mangal" is Mars in Hindi/Sanskrit. "Yaan" is vehicle Hindi/Sanskrit. "Mangalyaan" thus means a vehicle to Mars. Please stop being a dumb fuck, if you can.
Yup, just like the USA, right.... right?
Perl Programmer for hire
I agree in general but still sending a probe to Mars is a political stunt to show India is also coming up, not just China.
Politicians everywhere are largely useless at directing resources to where they need to go. Why complain here when it could have as easily gone into something less useful? Political stunt or not they are doing the right things.
There are million things India could be investing money into that would bring a better return in areas that you mention than this.
Well time and again physics has been shown to be the driver of much of our progress. Just have a look at how long it took biologists to make use of x-rays or scattering of electrons into a microscope, the chemists to see the value of quantum theory in understanding how molecules form and interact, how at CERN Tim Berners Lee invented HTML and how the next super fast cables that will replace gigabit ethernet have been made and tested there, or the origin of duct tape, and I could go on and on. India (and China) in my opinion understand that physics research in particular gives the best bang for the buck. Good on them for not cowering away from hard physics challenges.
i.e. it'll be outsourced. Enjoy your 42% savings margin.
there's no place like ~
No doubt because many people and other countries will take exception to that exceptional decision.
Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
True, but what small percentage of the population in India gives a damn about them? I know my two best friends that are Indian don't even care about children that are dying where they're from. It's not that they are bad people. It's just that they have come to accept that many children will die. It's just a different society. When I went to our office near Chennai and there was a dead toddler on the street in front of the entrance and no one cared then I knew that their society was simply one that I, and I assume the vast majority of Americans, will never understand. To them, slightly improved infrastructure was something political they got passionate about while helping some of the millions of starving children got no attention.
I remember when Indira Gandhi declared that India was going to spend millions of dollars on universities and educational subsidies people said the very same thing, "They're wasting their money when there are people starving!"
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
The scientists involved in the launch are praying to many gods to make the launch a success. Why am I feeling assured about the success now? http://www.financialexpress.com/news/indias-mars-mission-the-countdown-begins-for-isros-voyage-to-the-red-planet/1178892
The purpose of all philosophers was to impress women
Martians allegedly work for 3% the wage rate of Americans. With 21 tentacles they can key in code like nobody's mama.
Table-ized A.I.
The entire Indian space program is 0.37% of the national budget. This Mars mission is even a smaller fraction of that.
So, no, you ain't going to solve poverty and hunger by allocating 0.37% of the budget to welfare schemes.
"Yaan" means "Vehicle".. Hindi is my native language. Journey is 'safar' or 'yatra' - Go check it yourself here since you're unlikely to believe me , though I've spoken Hindi all my life - http://dict.hinkhoj.com/words/meaning-of-yaan-in-english.html
While not a native speaker (mine is Malayalam, which has plenty of words originating in Sanskrit), I have heard yaan being used in both senses - journey and vehicle.
Will they be building the first Martian call center?
Judging by the time I spend on-hold with their phone support, one would think the call is being routed via Mars!
What one fool can do, another can. (Ancient Simian Proverb)
It is also a marketing stunt. India's space program is one of the most cost effective in the world. By going all the way to Mars in its first shot, it demonstrates that its low cost program is also failure proof, successful and viable. ISRO, the organisation that is executing the Mars program, hopes to secure additional commercial satellite launching business by demonstrating the success of its Moon and Mars programs. Is NASA also a commercial entity, or is it entirely government funded? Can an African country walk up to NASA and have its own satellite launched at a fees? Just curious. ISRO is, and I guess that by getting more and more commercial business, it wants to reduce its dependence on government funding (and therefore political meddling). As we've seen in the case of the NASA budget cuts recently, living entirely on government dole doesn't always work in your favour. Or yeah, maybe that too. If you're running a space program in a poor country where a number of other programs vie for the same budget, then demonstrating science that captivates the minds of the populace sure would be important. That way when the budget discussion comes up, ISRO can say that the people want science too!
I look at it a little different. Given the number of natural catastrophes that have befallen the Earth over the last few million years, something WILL happen again. Catastrophic weather changes, super volcano blowing, radiation from a super nova, wandering black hole effect, meteor striking the earth, etc. There are any number of things that could destroy ALL human life on this planet. You say what is my point? I think our only hope of guaranteeing survival of the human race is to get some of us off the planet. Live on Mars, live in Space Stations, Discover new worlds and make colonies there and maybe even some day terraforming a planet and starting a new world. The only way to achieve that goal is to increase studies into space travel and actually doing it. Otherwise we are pretty much guaranteeing the human race will eventually be wiped out by something or someone. I hope people are able to see the big picture and help ensure the survival of the human race. I for one applaud the launch even if they did it for political purposes, it still is a step forward for everyone. Just my 2 cents.
I'm old, not dead. Well that's my 2 cents worth, your mileage may vary. I say what I think, not what you want to hear.
"Indian Mars probe successfully completes mission as slashdot twits eat large quantities of Humble Pie!!"
Early days yet but the launch was apparently successful
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24729073
Rule 1 on the Internet: Don't correct someone else's spelling.
No wonder they keep pumping out more kids then. If you can't support your current population, stop making so many new people.
which is totally what she said
I agree in general but still sending a probe to Mars is a political stunt to show India is also coming up, not just China. There are million things India could be investing money into that would bring a better return in areas that you mention than this.
Actually, India has been developing its satellite industry and is looking to be the cheap way of getting communication satellites in orbit. From some articles I've read, their costs are 1/10th of what other countries are asking and so India can be major player in satellite technology. They have communication, weather and military satellites in orbit already.
The mars mission is just a natural extension of what they have been doing for years. Besides they do have scientific objectives as well. One article said studying methane on Mars.
It doesn't sound like a vanity project. It sounds like a natural progression of a maturing industry they have been cultivating for decades.
The 2nd sentence applies to any and all countries. Oh, and you better had some hard numbers for the "better return" claim.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
Last time I checked, NASA wasn't ever in the commercial launch business, LOL. An African country could certainly walk up to any of the commercial launch providers, such as SpaceX, ULA, Roskosmos, etc.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
Just out of curiosity, how do you think all those commercial satellites currently in orbit got there? Most of them got launched by NASA, especially the ones that have been there for more than five or six years.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
AC is right.. everyone.. please don't miss-interpret the word "yaan" otherwise it will bring bad luck to India's mars mission.
not really.. one of the biggest problem India is facing is the huge and growing population. Now India cannot export them to other countries because of visa restrictions so they are planning to export Indians to Mars.
Maybe all US people on food stamps, panhandlers as well as slum dwellers in India and others can relocate to Mars if this and other missions are successful
If the Moon is made of cheese, the does that mean that Mars is made of Chicken Tikka Masala?
In C++, your friends can see your privates.
With half of that of interplanetary missions. Hopefully India and other countries will learn from all the mistakes and have success!
Initially on first pass I would agree. However I think it goes beyond simply a political stunt. True India has a number of basic problems to deal with, but this may be something that pushes that agenda forward.
With the US and NASA basically "outsourcing" their space program, it offers opportunities to others. The country that can land those space contracts (I can't believe I just wrote space contracts, what is this Firefly?), not only will get a big boost into their space program and associated technology and experience, but also all the positive spin off jobs that they bring. India is certainly trying to show it can do the same thing for cheaper and faster than others.
It also fosters a focus on science, however I don't think it is stereotypical to say that India already has that in oodles.
Lastly, it gives some hope, pride, and patriotism for the future of India. Not only proving to the world, but to their own people, that their country is doing great things. Sure if you are really hungry that might be cold comfort, however with people probably a bit sick of the soul crushing corruption in government, it might be nice to see them accomplish something a bit altruistic (or seemingly so).
Perhaps I am just optimistic today.
Disclaimer: Not Indian. :p
Well. Showing that they're capable of non-trivial engineering feats, like launching payload into Mars orbit, might create more international business for local industries. So it might be good for more than creating patriotic feelings in the populace.
/.Mattsson - My native language is not English, so please don't whine over linguistic errors. (That's lame anyway...)
.. on India's Mars mission and how the world reacted to it. http://balajiviswanathan.quora.com/Indian-Space-Mission-Poverty-and-Closet-Racism