Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Indian Mars Probe Successfully Enters Sun-Centric Orbit

Posted by timothy on from the difficult-task dept.

New submitter palemantle writes with this excerpt from The Hindu, updating our earlier mention of the successful launch of India's Mars-bound probe: "In a remarkably successful execution of a complex manoeuvre, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) fired the propulsion system on board the spacecraft for a prolonged duration of 23 minutes from 0049 hours on Sunday. In space parlance, the manoeuvre is called Trans-Mars Injection (TMI). ISRO called it 'the mother of all slingshots.' Celebrations broke out at the control centre of the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Bangalore from where the spacecraft specialists gave commands for the orbiter's 440 Newton engine to begin firing. The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also known as Mangalyaan, is designed to demonstrate the technological capability to reach Mars orbit. But the $72m (£45m) probe will also carry out experiments, including a search for methane gas in the planet's atmosphere."

20 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. 3.. 2.. 1.. by SB9876 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Countdown to a flood of unfunny, racist Indian call center jokes...

    1. Re:3.. 2.. 1.. by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'm not sure why someone who sends out a printed invitation for racist jokes would get modded "Insightful".

      I didn't see any such jokes until you mentioned them, and then the ones that came were pretty half-hearted.

      Maybe you need to have a little more faith in people.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
  2. Good For Them by FSWKU · · Score: 2

    Seriously, my humble congrats to the team on their success so far. We need more players in the space game, and knowledge gained will hopefully benefit everyone.

    On a more philosophical note, I'd love to see this benefit India as a whole by pointing out to everyone just how insignificant we ALL are in the grand scheme of the universe. While they've "officially" abolished the caste system, it's still there in a lot of ways. The more people realize that Earth is but a tiny speck, the more people will (hopefully...I can dream, right?) begin to treat each other better, especially those deemed to be in a "lower class" by some arbitrary rules that nobody alive has any connection to anymore. Actually, it would be nice if we could all work toward that, not just Indian society.

    --
    "So after all this, you make my case for me. To end this stalemate, you must die..."
    1. Re:Good For Them by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This is in now way India-specific; but "I'd better shore up my battered sense of importance by getting my foot on the other guy's neck" seems to be the response that crops up to the sensation of vast, cosmic, insignificance as often as some nobler sense of kinship with your fellow gravity-well-dwellers.

      I don't exactly like the fact; but when being better in some absolute sense isn't an option, we frequently turn to finding somebody to be worse, as though that's a substitute.

  3. Great but... money better spent elsewhere by Dakiraun · · Score: 2, Insightful

    While I congratulate them on the outstanding technical achievement of this and other feats of their space program, it is a country where any and all available funds need to be going towards resolving the massive poverity, corruption and inequality issues. Over half of the nation's population is poor, 21% of their diseases are water-related,and only 33% even have access to what would be considered normal sanitation facilities. Charities exist by the dozens to deal with a variety of issues in India in trying to clean up these problems, and here is their government spending millions on space missions. To me, that just seems grossly irresponsible. :/

    1. Re:Great but... money better spent elsewhere by ThatsMyNick · · Score: 5, Informative

      Well 73 million is 0.025% of their yearly budget (73m/280b). Spending the renaming 99.975% of the budget will have more appropriately will have more of effect on corruption, poverty, and inequality issues in my opinion. If help improve research and help improve research and manufacturing technology, it would probably more than pay for itself. It would also probably bring more business to Antrix (commercial wing of ISRO), and probably even make money for the Indian govt, and end up with a net gain rather than 72 million expense.

    2. Re:Great but... money better spent elsewhere by fredprado · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If all countries wait to end poverty, corruption and inequality "issues", before researching space or anything else, it won't ever be done. India does a LOT of things wrongly, but in this it is on the right track, unlike US, which keep cutting funds from NASA in name of trying to fix social problems that strangely keep getting worse and worse the more money the government apply on them.

    3. Re:Great but... money better spent elsewhere by BringsApples · · Score: 2

      There are 1.24 billion people in India. If you give them each 1 US dollar you would feed them for maybe 7 days. And yet you could go to Mars 16 times for the same price. You tell me how that's irresponsible.

      --
      Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
    4. Re:Great but... money better spent elsewhere by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      While I congratulate them on the outstanding technical achievement of this and other feats of their space program, it is a country where any and all available funds need to be going towards resolving the massive poverity, corruption and inequality issues. Over half of the nation's population is poor, 21% of their diseases are water-related,and only 33% even have access to what would be considered normal sanitation facilities. Charities exist by the dozens to deal with a variety of issues in India in trying to clean up these problems, and here is their government spending millions on space missions. To me, that just seems grossly irresponsible. :/

      When a similar question was asked to a professor at ISRO after a successful launch. He said, during diwali we spend 5000 crores on fireworks/rockets which reach only 10 feet high. We are spending 500 crores for MOM (Mars Orbiter Mission) in comparison.

      IMHO, money can always be better spent elsewhere.

    5. Re:Great but... money better spent elsewhere by AHuxley · · Score: 5, Interesting

      India asked itself the about the payback of advanced technologies in the late 1940's to 1960's.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Space_Research_Organisation#Goals_and_objectives
      Seems they got the funding mix right and can now enjoy the long term tech exports and get to add to space science :)

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    6. Re:Great but... money better spent elsewhere by idji · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This project cost 70M$. that is 5.8c per Indian.
      If this rocket inspires 20-50 million Indian poor children to study harder at school, learn Math and be an Engineer, then this project has a FANTASTIC value for the country of India.
      I suspect this is money extremely well spent to inspire masses of children to take destiny in their own hands and rid themselves and their family of the poverty trap, by believing that an ordinary Indian child can do something extraordinary in the village, town, city, state and planet
      I just ran 3 IT seminars in 3 Australian cities - all three had 50% participants from India - why, because Indians aspire to Math, Engineering, and Australians aspire to be sport heroes, lawyers and slackers, while their government wins an election on "Turn back the refugee boats" and "Kill the Carbon Tax". Where are their inspiring projects?

    7. Re:Great but... money better spent elsewhere by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      Spending more money on the problem won't solve the problem, as long as those in charge don't want to solve it.

      It would be fucking easy to fix basically anywhere. All you have to do is enable this: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/indian-man-single-handedly-plants-a-1360-acre-forest

      Instead of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_in_India#Pollution

      But look around you at the country of your choice. Here in the USA we have people actively preventing people growing vegetables in their own yards. We have a huge percentage of the nation owned directly by the federal government, and exploited for its mineral rights; meanwhile, during the federal shutdown, they were actually preventing people from entering it. This land is our land?

      The problem is greed. And it's particularly pathetic because the rich aren't happy, either. So they're depriving others in order to make some big numbers bigger in a way that won't even fucking make them happy. No matter how you slice it, that's a tragedy.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  4. What the heck has happened to the West ? by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 3, Funny

    India's Mars probe finally leaves Earth-bound orbits on the 1st of December 2013.

    On the very same day, China is set to launch its first lunar lander.

    Both India and China are from Asia.

    Where are the Europeans ?

    Where are the Americans ?

    What the heck happened to the usually technologically more advanced societies of the Western countries ?

    Asia is playing catch up very very fast, and before long, they might even get ahead of you guys !

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    1. Re:What the heck has happened to the West ? by AHuxley · · Score: 2

      AC India had to 'breaking new grounds" just like every other country entering space.
      India their development work from the 1950's onwards in a slow and careful way.
      No country can just emerge with the maths, computing power and expert staff. It takes years and India put that effort into science and space exploration very early on.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Space_Research_Organisation#Formative_years

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    2. Re:What the heck has happened to the West ? by ImOuttaHere · · Score: 4, Interesting

      To start, the US de-funded scientific research. It had to, in part, because Ronald Raygun privatized many government functions. What was the practical effect? It means that rather than paying managers of a government function a government salary, you now take bids from private companies who have only one interest at heart: To make the managers of the private company rich. The cost of government has risen dramatically thereby. Think I'm wrong? Look at SAIC, Ross Perot and his old company, and all the companies related to war and contracting "security" services (just to scratch the surface). Which is directly related to why America spends well north of 55 percent of it's national budget on war related costs, instead of the less than 25 percent of a national budget that European countries do. So, in a country where people do not like government, don't want to pay any tax, in a country where R&D incentives (first initiated during WWII) are removed, in a country that feels it's OK to send jobs to China (effectively making China's middle class rich and America's poor) you end up being left behind on the ideological, scientific, basic research items.

      Europe has it's own financial problems right now. It did three things. First, it allowed Germany to become not only the bankers of the EU, but to become the economic powerhouse of the EU as well. Second, many EU countries bought a ton of AAA-rated US mortgage packages that turned out to be junk. Take a close look at which countries bought what and you'll see the effect I'm pointing out. Third, the EU tried to grow their economy by doing what the US and UK did; make cheap loans available as a means of boosting production. Bad move, right? Credit bubbles seldom last forever. Look at what it did to Spain.

      Which leads me to this: First world nation's governments are deeply involved in "realpolitik", and are no longer paying attention to the ideologies on which they were founded or the ideologies of science as it might relate to industry. In the US and UK this means enabling corporate and banker greed. On mainland Europe, this means getting wrapped around the axle of competing political interests.

      ...What the heck happened to the usually technologically more advanced societies of the Western countries ?

      Asia is playing catch up very very fast, and before long, they might even get ahead of you guys !

    3. Re:What the heck has happened to the West ? by ImOuttaHere · · Score: 2

      ... so how do your comments square with the following?

      From Chemical and Engineering news -

      Reagan’s economic programs, so controversial then and now, generally supported federal science programs... As Reagan’s term went on, however, the rising federal deficits and lower revenues that were the result of a recession took their toll on R&D budgets. Soon, agencies such as the Energy Department, the National Bureau of Standards, and even the National Institutes of Health were looking at budget cuts.

      Further, from "The Revolution that Killed Society", we read...

      The Regan Revolution went much further than to just corrupt previously publicly owned companies: they mandated that every service that had begun with ownership by the public needed to be privatized; because only the private corporate-world could make money with things like public services, that up until then had been "a drain" on the public purse. 'Privatization would bring an economic windfall from the drudgery and incompetence of publicly owned services. The justification by the Regan Revolution was that Everything Must Earn a Profit, or it should be terminated: The entire idea of society providing anything for its citizens was heresy to any True-Capitalist.

      The result was 'The Revolution That Killed Society'. Everything from the buses and the trains, to electricity, natural gas and heating oil, public hospitals, and public health: indeed everything except possibly firefighters and police have been privatized: and now even those two "services" are experimenting with the idea of privatization as well.

      The size of government actually increased under Reagan. This has to stand in stark contrast with his stated goals of downsizing government. From the Reagan Budget, we learn that "People around the country seem to understand what no one in Washington will admit: The budget is out of control. The growth of government is out of control...

      Lastly, I take no position on Right vs Left in American politics, except to note that neither party works for We the People. Both parties work hard for the monied class. Hence my belief that America has a one party system. It's called the Business Party and it has two factions that conveniently distract America's citizens by providing great theater as they fight amongst themselves. "Liberals" in the US look better than "Conservatives" only in that they don't say stupid things quite as often as the Rabid Right. Neither faction has any idea how to govern for We the People.

      To start, the US de-funded scientific research. It had to, in part, because Ronald Raygun privatized many government functions.

      Nice theory, but doesn't agree with reality...

  5. his point is what he said, US and EU news all fail by raymorris · · Score: 2

    I don't think that's what GP said.
    GP asked "where are the Europeans and Americans?", perhaps pointing out that lately the US and EU countries are only in the news for fail of various kinds.
    In the fifties and again from about 1985-2000, all the big space and science news, the big new machines, etc. were all coming mainly from the US and the UK. About 15 years ago, something happened such that the US in no longer the leading nation it once was. Perhaps that's what GP is referring to.

  6. An Indian Odyssey by varshar · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Excellent work by our scientists and engineers at ISRO.

    Mangalyaan is thus far proving:

    1. How reliable PSLV series is for commercial space-launch.

    2. How far India has come in mastery over orbital mechanics - witness the precise application of Oberth effect. This isn't just your granddads Hohmann slingshot. At least not yet.

    3. Setting benchmark pricing for Mars transit at USD 70 Mn. for 485 Kg payload viz. 144K USD per Kg.

    4. Generating huge impact among school kids. Visits to Nehru planetarium are no longer about US this and Russia that... even though we owe them for being pioneers.

    I look forward to the next logical extension viz. manned-mission with the Indian flag atop Olympus Mons.

    Varun

  7. The Sun and the science of Moonraker? by jphamlore · · Score: 2

    When I think of the Sun and science, I can't help but think of the James Bond movie Moonraker where the opposing teams of astronauts / space marines are killing each other in Earth orbit with space lasers, one guy gets hit, and he starts to fall into the Sun.

  8. Re:Indians, in spaaaaace by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

    Sounds nice, as long as the "1940s" you describe doesn't extend to the old gender roles -- those are fine for people that naturally fit them, but not very pleasant for those of us that don't. :-)

    Well, they not only have fucked up gender roles, but they also have their own answer to racism, the caste system. Which is officially over, but very much still alive and well today. And as hateful as ever. It just goes to show that until The People of (wherever) decide to cooperate on a better future, someone always finds a way to divide and conquer them. India has its attractions but ecologically it's a fucking wasteland. What could it look like with more cooperation? I notice their last vestiges of royalty are still living in pretty opulent surroundings. If only they were motivated to improve the whole country, and not just their own grounds.

    You know, just like everywhere else.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"