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After Successful Launch, India's Mars Orbiter Is On Its Way

neo12 writes "India has successfully launched a spacecraft to the Red Planet — with the aim of becoming the fourth space agency to reach Mars." As our previous mention of the launch notes, getting to Mars by rocket is a long haul: if all goes well, it will be about 10 months until Mangalyaan reaches orbit.

2 of 166 comments (clear)

  1. Re:0.37% of India's total budget by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If they can pull it off, it tells Pakistan, "We can land a nuke on Islamabad just as easily as we send a probe to Mars." This is exactly how the US-USSR space race played out. The Apollo and Soyuz programs were all about demonstrating the capacity of missile technology.

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    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  2. Re:0.37% of India's total budget by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 4, Interesting

    People have tried to quantify the benefits of basic science but have largely failed – but that does not mean it is not important.

    1900: "Electrons? Quantum physics? Can you eat that?"

    1948: The transistor.

    2013: Hell, look around yourself...

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    Ezekiel 23:20