Space missions and research showcases the cutting edge technology capabilities of a intellectually capable nation. We know Indian scientists are gifted, and they are at least as good as their western counterparts. Space systems are the backbone of broadcasting, communication, remote sensing and meteorological services. The add value, and make life easier for the citizens of a country. But why would a developing country want to explore Moon?
The objective of Chandrayaan-1 according to ISRO is:
The Chandrayaan-1 mission is aimed at high-resolution remote sensing of the moon in visible, near infrared(NIR), low energy X-rays and high-energy X-ray regions.
Why do they want to do this? What do we achieve from such a mission costing 386 crore rupees? Mapping of the moon surface and research on water on its surface. I totally agree to the point that we learn a lot in harnessing the payload, space craft or rather lunar craft with ground support systems. There is a lot of learning, no doubt. But the question is whether such a learning worth the cost? ISRO says 386 crore is not a big sum. May be it is not when you compare it to the kind of money NASA blows on space missions, but for a developing country it sure is a big amount.
India is a country which still imports outdated fighter jets to fight the enemies, lacks good intelligence services to curb the terrorist activities, lacks the funds to provide good education, lacks funds to help the flood and other natural calamity affected citizens, fails to defend its border from infiltrating and encroaching neighbors, doesn’t pay enough for the jawans guarding it’s borders day and night without caring for their life. Amidst all these issues, that never gets addressed, a mission to Moon to showcase the capabilities of ISRO and Indian space technology is considered more important.
Why don’t we build better defense systems than build Satellite Launch Vehicles? Why don’t we spend money in teaching geography to underprivileged children than shell out millions on mapping the surface of Moon? Why don’t we pay better salaries to army jawans than handling bigger payloads?
Let’s leave the space research to the American organizations, there is no need for our Indian organizations to take up such missions. Brilliant Indian scientists can go to a rich and developed nation like USA or France or Russia for flexing their brain muscles for research in space. For the love of our motherland, lets solve problems at grass root levels if possible. There is no need for India to compete for pride in space missions with communistic principled China, where citizens’ opinions are no better than that of animals, as US did with USSR a few decades ago. US can afford to look for water in Mars or a spec of dirt on any heavenly body, contentious to be called a planet, but not a country like India where bare minimum essentials are not met.
I wish the Chandrayaan-1 mission is a success, and hope our government does not encourage any future endeavors with such magnanimity.
hahaha… Fantastic one…
They can’t even provide enough dust bins along the roadside/pavement. First, let them resolve the electricity crisis and enough problems we’ve here…
As you said, US of A anyways attracts all the brains… No use of investing on such hi-fi projects..!!
we cannot predict our future. in the ancient time there were no boundary or any thing for earth. but today what’s the condition ?in that way we don’t know what’s going to happen in the future.now after the CHANDRAYAAN being launched ,and after our national flag being placed over moon ,let me tel moon has become India’s too. any way let’s be confident of the future.
And for those who talk about India’s poverty,this amount for the project is nothing to solve India’s poverty.So let’s do this project which is useful for the future and a giant leap for the mankind!
Totally agree with u. There are many more important issues than space mission just to prove something (God knows what) to the developed countries. Khane ko roti nahi pehenne ko kapda nahi aur chale chand pe!
Wow wow wow… tread carefully my fellow Indians, its not about conquering the moon, lets say Sandeep writes some desktop application software and then spends loads of time coming with an optimization that improves the efficiency by say 0.1nano-sec, which obviously does not matter for his user who thinks it is useless.. on the other hand Sandeep has developed something, learnt loads of things in the process.. One fine day Sandeep joins Boeing and finds that the same algo could be applied to a software in fighter planes, now look at 0.1nano-sec..
Btw to all those who talk take India lightly in this one aspect(though i would’ve agreed with you about our imports and poverty etc etc etc.. but thats another topic) you should remember that India is also a country which indigenously did nuclear tests without being traced by any country.. the telecom connectivity, tv etc that you see is all thanks to our satellites and space program.. what our space program has achieved is really commendable so please please do not lambaste them like this, they are not fools.. for all you know we could soon be able to launch satellites for other country which could bring us loads of money..
This is as naive as a Singur farmer saying i need rice and not a car.
P.S. I know now all of you will start pouncing on me, so apologies in advance if anyone is hurt, no offense intended, its just a personal opinion, i wish we could create awareness and promote such endeavors rather than oppose them.
your perception about undertaking moon mission after making other things like nuclear technology, defence systems, Power everything perfect would not work out. That day nobody knows wen will come. By undertaking this mission ISRO will be testing a lot of its technology which will help them better their future missions. Still we are talking about providing roti kapda aur makaan to all our people but we have come so far in space which certainly is appreciable. If we had thought only after providing roti kapda aur makaan to all our ppl we will start our space programmes we would be still begging and spending to get something laucnhed for us. So this mission cannot be mocked as foolish for a developing country to undertake for surely it will help expand our scientists knowledge base.
There are various aspects to ISRO’s entire mission and this mission in particular. ISRO’s focus is more on space applications than launch technology, which seems appropriate for a developing country.
If you observe ISRO’s major launches and projects, you will note their strongs applications focus, primary examples being the IRS (Indian Remote Sensing) network of satellites, METSAT (Meteorological), CARTOSAT (for mapping), EDUSAT (for satellite-based education) among others. They are all extremely useful to our community, I hope you can see why.
That said, Chandrayaan is a departure for ISRO and as such it should raise questions. It is more focused on the space science area. But I feel that ISRO’s real purposes in this program are more along the lines of upgrading India’s launch and mission capabilities (think of Chandrayaan as a hard mission which gives ISRO important clues to make its easier missions more efficient + confidence boost for its scientists/engineers), international collaboration (which typically only happens in the space science area) and raising the profile of ISRO’s programs in India and abroad. The last point is esp. relevant since ISRO is facing a manpower crunch due to the growth of other sectors.
I absolutely agree with your viewpoint. And the same applies to loads of other things, not just space research. However, by world standards, good research is the symptom of a developed country, which is ultimately where we aim to be. You should consider reading Ignited Minds by APJ Abdul Kalam. It not only enlightens you on the contributions made by Indian scientists, but argues in complete favor of such missions. Almost convincing.
Nice blog by the way. I’m adding you to me roll :)
@Manasa
Thanks.
ya, let US spend money on such missions. They’ve done that after providing other facilities to their citizens.
@Reema
Hmm ya.. thanks.
@Chinmay
Why is it another topic!?
It all comes in the expenditure of the nation.
To make things clearer.
I’m not calling them fools. I totally understand and agree how much satellites help in communication and broadcasting. (Read 1st paragraph).
ISRO has already launched satellites for other countries on their SLV some time back.
Ya may be i am naive as a farmer. I feel, a stronger defense system, and better standard of living for the citizens of the country is more important than Moon mission, but i’m not against the work of ISRO on comm/broadcasting/meteorological satellites.
@Biju
Yes, i definitely feel you should stall the moon mission (not other space programs like i’ve already mentioned) till we have good defense, power, and standard of living.
If that day doesn’t come, then there is seriously something wrong in the way we are governed. We must correct that before taking up the moon mission.
Why do you think it is ok to ‘beg and spend’ money on fighter jets to defend our borders, and it is not ok to launch satellites from others’ SLVs??
Don’t tell me only moon mission will help them learn more on ‘space technology’ (i’m careful not calling just space).
@Vikram
I seem to be convinced to certain extent from your comment.
But why do we need to move to the space science area? Is it not possible to learn from other missions?
International collaborations do happen when they launch others’ satellites on ISRO’s SLVs. Man power crunch is due to the pay they would offer to its employees. Also, US has better standard of living, and a safer place so one would go and work there rather than here.
Even in this regard it makes sense to improve these aspects before such audacious space missions.
@Shivya
good research is the symptom of a developed country
that’s a good one :)
Will surely consider reading that book sometime.
Thanks, i’m glad you liked my blog.
Good one, dude! Makes a lot of sense. But I guess when it comes to the space programs, the country with the longest dick wins… :D
But still, its all about making a point to the world than anything… “If you can go to the moon, so can we,” sort of thing.
But you know what, by demonstrating this prowess to the world, India is sending a subtle message across that our space program can be used by space tourists. They pay big money, don’t they? :D
landed in this heated debate :) each one of you has a view point,nevertheless i still feel we have to concentrate on issues at grass root levels-as sandeep says -because we can probably produce 100 more researchers if we encourage better education at basic levels ..
Also,India is lagging behind in basic research,so say IISc faculty,maybe we must look upon investing /granting more money in/to such places rather than Chandrayan ..but we never know what outcome the Chandrayan launch may have for the country ..Let’s wait and watch ..
@Sandeep & megcloud9:
>> Why is it another topic!? It all comes in the expenditure of the nation.
Yes everything requires initial investment, and its an enterprise where you invest or you perish. And I said its another topic because its a problem of perception and political(social) will, just like some state politicians think IT, Nano etc is secondary to farming(Do i have to tell anyone the fate of WestBengal OR why Karnataka scored over AP etc etc)…
Its the same argument people would’ve made before India went nuclear if they told you beforehand. Ok, consider if Chandrayan is a missile mission would Isro be wise if it said its a moon mission or if its said its a nuclear test?
As for your concerns of grass-root and poor let me remind you that most people in Isro earn a modest living and do not work in IT industry like us, so lets not question their philanthropy. I’m sure they know the value of money, they probably don’t waste 60bucks every day at coffee-day.
So lets not be the pseudo saviors of poverty – we’re not a politician nor an uneducated farmer.
Pure Science is about fascination of knowing the unknown, and there is nothing like basic research, one does not know the results before you try.. and its the same Isro/IISc/ABCD scientists who undertake/propose such missions because they understand the philosophy of science well.
If i were to argue by the grass-root logic – Say i’m the Dean I enter a lab and see Rutherford and Bohr doing some experiment. Hmmm.. Rutherford is actually doing $GOllld leaf experiment.. “Aye! you Rutherford what are ze wasting my precious Gold for some stupid useless thing inside atoms.. i couldn’t give my girlfrend a gold ring and you for your hobby project… ” .”Sir, but.. “.. “No no no you want to pierce my golden atoms, hurt them in their heart – i tell you, if you concentrate on finding some chemicals which make good fertilizer i’ll grow big coconut and sell them to buy some gold..”
If you look at it, what did Rutherford conclude – only that the atom is mostly empty, and Bohr’s model was incorrect in so many ways as we know today. What good did it serve to the grass-root? But in how many ways did it actually help science(read grass-root-science, and that again is another topic :D ) !
@Nikhil
Yup, it’s about ego to some extent.
Space tourists.. phew.. long way to go man!
@megcloud9
we can probably produce 100 more researchers if we encourage better education at basic levels
That says all! :)
@Chinmay
Dude, seriously…. India or any other developing country can not afford to have a Rutherford or Bohr, even if they are meant to change the world. Let they do it in US. See the point from my perspective, if you can that is!
So lets not be the pseudo saviors of poverty – we’re not a politician nor an uneducated farmer.
I’m not just talking about eliminating poverty, i’m saying we need more funds for building Fighter Jets and Submarines, power plants etc etc. In these missions we can see a purpose and a problem (like stronger defense, power issues) being solved.
And why do you think only a politician or an uneducated farmer should talk about poverty?
Pure Science is about fascination of knowing the unknown
We don’t want to solve an unforeseen problem for the fascination, let’s leave that to US or Germany or France. Let’s sort out the issues bugging us since ages.
[…] IIT Punjab- An Unwoven Dream Author: Intutius No Humanity Towards Trafficking Victims Author: Nita Chandrayan-Is It Justified for a Developing Country? Author: […]
@Sandeep,
1)[i]Dude, seriously…. India or any other developing country can not afford to have a Rutherford or Bohr, even if they are meant to change the world. Let they do it in US. See the point from my perspective[/i]
2)[i]For the love of our motherland, lets solve problems at grass root levels if possible[\i]
sorry but your perspective does not make any sense to ME.Firstly i dont understand why INDIA should not afford any Rutherford or Bohr….only coz they might cost some crores to INDIA in the name of research?.Secondly u say we dont need to worry about the research in this field coz anyways the Americans or Germans are doing it. But then how will it make any benefit to India?….obviously they wont share the science behind it!!.i know your intention is that “we dont even need to know anything that happens on the Moon RIGHT NOW” ..but that is prolly why you are not an ISRO scientist :P.
And who is to decide how much is worth spending on something or not?.I mean who has to decide that a particular expenditure is enough for some research or it should not go beyond an amount?
I’m not just talking about eliminating poverty, i’m saying we need more funds for building Fighter Jets and Submarines, power plants etc etc. In these missions we can see a purpose and a problem (like stronger defense, power issues) being solved.
2)Sure there are many more issues INDIA has to deal with…the grass root level problems as u said….but its NEVER that all the efforts that are being done to improve in those areas are being hampered coz we are spending money on Chandrayan.
[i]I’m not just talking about eliminating poverty, i’m saying we need more funds for building Fighter Jets and Submarines, power plants etc etc. In these missions we can see a purpose and a problem (like stronger defense, power issues) being solved.[/i]
India IS spending lots of money on defense and power plants also btw.
And if you are saying that we need to stop all these missions like Chandrayan and concentrate on eradicating poverty first…..then YES…IT IS A VERY DIFFERENT TOPIC…and i totally agree with Chinmay.[b]This is as naive as a Singur farmer saying i need rice and not a car.[/b]
PS : everything is my personal opinion….sorry if anybody’s hurt or anything sounded rude.
@chinmay
i’m not questioning the committment level if any ISRO employee ! maybe they really have somthing big planned in the chandrayan which they do not want us to know ,let us see ! That’s what we are al hoping for
@Tejas
I’m not against research. I was indicating there is no ‘need’ for research that needs elaborate spending of money.
And who is to decide how much is worth spending on something or not?.I mean who has to decide that a particular expenditure is enough for some research or it should not go beyond an amount?
There has to be someone, i guess the Scientific adviser to the PM or the likes, at the highest level of course.
India IS spending lots of money on defense and power plants also btw.
Then why don’t we have nuclear powered submarines and buying from others? Why do we have power cuts even now?
What we are spending is not enough.
And if you are saying that we need to stop all these missions like Chandrayan and concentrate on eradicating poverty first
I never said stop all research projects or space missions.. Duh.
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You have to have a presence on the moon to claim a share in the pie in future. It is like being in the nucelar club. The have not may be shunted out by powerful nations.
See
After the nuclear deal, a space deal?
Incidentally, the orbital path shown in your post has undergone changes.
@Sandeep
Well to bring something to light India spends less than 0.8% of GDP on science, and R&D.. what expenditure are we talking of? So lets not talk of what India can afford.
>>Then why don’t we have nuclear powered submarines and buying from others? Why do we have power cuts even now?
Some years down the line if US puts some monitoring station(say climate monitoring or defense or whatever) on Moon and we have to buy the service you’ll be substituting nuclear with Chandra-yan in the sentence above.
We have power cuts because when it was time to research/invest on Rutherford(cathode rays, radioactivity, X-rays all stem from here) and develop the technology of the future we were short-sighted and did not invest in the future, we were thinking only of steel and motors.
In those days also someone would’ve argued that we need electricity first – little did anyone know that nuclear energy could help too. It is exactly for this reason even today we buy age old technology from US and even today we have severe electricity problem.
So the impetus should be on allocating a small extra 1% of gdp to this rather than say that this money could be better spent. I think to this we all agree.
Maybe Sandeep will write a next post on increasing allocation on science and his popular blog will help advertise science, maybe some noble politician will read and in the next budget we’ll see it through, and maybe soon India will be shining again :)
Hi everybody
First of all, congrats to sandip for raising a fine point. It is many times debated before us, and this is certainly not the last time, when it takes place: technology or well- being of people?
It is noticeable, that even in USA, there are poor people (may be not by our standards). And Russia’s pretentions of well being in the times of cold war have dropped after 1990. These countries did not thik that they will provide for their citizens first, and when everyone is satisfied, then lets go for scientific research. This is a stupid approach.
For the other problems you put forward, they cannot be solved by providing funds only; but a drastic change in the attitude of people is necessary.
You are concerned about better jets, good intelligent services, funds for education, good salary for our jawans, better disaster management system. These are indeed our needs; but steps are being taken to solve all these problems.
Indian Defence Ministry and DRDO should definitely pay attention to developing not only jets; but also ‘swadeshi’ tanks, submarines, frigates and other kind of warships. Also the number of ammunition factories should be increased (No other opinion here). But for other points, there is a different opinion.
In the 6th pay commission, the salaries of all army personnel has been increased. Their other benefits have also increased. So, I think that answers for your worry about jawans.
Only good intelligence is not sufficient for curbing terrorism; but the politics of vote banks is also a major issue, which should be taken care of. For instance, after the Jamia Nagar encounter in Delhi, that wretched AMAR SINGH publicly suspected the truth about the encounter and whether or not Mohan Chand Sharma, a Delhi special cell police inspector (who sacrified his life to bring justice to the terrorists) was indeed a martyr or simply killed by his own colleagues. Unless and until such forces are removed from India, every effort to curb terrorism is futile.
The lunar mission is also proposed to seardh the Helium-3, which can be used to fuel our nuclear reactors, and produce electricity. It is non-radioactive, and only 3 grams of it can produce 493 Megawatt-hours of enery. By this calculation, a 1000 MW electrical plant could be run for a year using only 17.3 kg of He-3. For more info, refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium-3
Extracting this fuel from moon (if in existence) will help to satiate our growing demand of energy, and exporting this fuel to other countries will give us the money required to fuel up our plans of better education, good disaster management system and many more. Besides, it will save us a lot of money spent upon crude oil, thereby making those funds available for use.
So, it is definitely not entirely useless to arrange such an ambitious mission. Besides these advantages mentioned above, it will help in enhancing the prestige of India and Indians. The word will truly start to recognise us as superpower if and only if we are going along with the world, may be not ahead of. ONLY feeding our poor won’t achieve this feet.
[…] exploring about Chandrayaan, I found an interesting article, “Chandrayaan – is it justified for a developing country?” I think yes, it is justified. As we cannot wait till we banish poverty. Development in […]
Okay, we wont conduct any further tests sir.
While I am for any kind of space research. I believe that since much of the study on the moon has already been done, It would be a waste of money.
May be they could have used that money to explore other things out in space or improved the research centers for building satellites etc.
Dude… you sound like Senator Sedwick Sexton – a character from the book Deception point by Dan brown.
If you’re feeling there is no justification abt the importance of the programme NOW, what made you say that?
i’ll give you a simple example to show the importance of the program. You being a DSP engineer must definitely know how much of DSP goes into making this HUGE project a success. do you think that the technology being used now is of lower grade than the technology used in previous missions? there is a scientific and technological advancement for sure right? that means the application of the new tech is in the form space launch, which could have been put into anything else also. but, the proof of the tech’s advancement shows up more in this case. it could be explained w.r.t any field. DSP was just an example.
Are you mad!!
That ways is it justified for you to live everyday and not contribute to the country :P
The problem with the next gen Indian generation is that they are waaaaaaaaaaay too narrow minded, cannot see beyond stock market..
poverty roads blah blah have been there ,will be there ,to change all that we need to change ppls mentality which by now is pretty obvious that is mission impossible
get someone in orkut to not join a my religion/caste/community is the best community first then we’ll talk abt eliminating poverty..
Chandrayaan should only be the beginning. We have made enough excuses. In a country where every graduate wants to do an ms or mba because that is what everyone else is doing we need to give them more options
The need of the hour is to give young India something to dream about.. we have enough of followers and suckers we need leaders.. we need something to challenge their minds and keep them here.. chandrayaan is doing that to millions of graduates who hate their sucked up call centre jobs
Any money pumped into science is every penny extracted..the objective might be something else but the experience, the failures, the success, the results always have an impact on everyday life..
I feel it is absolutely wrong to look the entire issue in a pessimistic way. We cannot penalize a body for the inefficiency of others. ISRO is one among a few organizations in India that efficiently utilizes its allotted budget to conceive and execute innovative ideas that translates into betterment of our society. A simple observation on their past history loudly highlights their commitment for the betterment of our society.
Sandeep, here is a document that ISRO has come out with, with details of the Chandrayaan mission.
hi
i think we should b optimystic about this programme because development in such a sector will benefit indian techies by providing lucrative job oppurtunities.
It is responsibility of govt. to unleash all the possible avenues for employement of our better than best techies,therefore spending on such a great mission is a gr8 step taken by government.
The problems posted by all of you above also needs to b addressed but critisizing govt. on such mission is a national insult.
those who take it as not justified for a developing nation like us then please look at china it is also a developing nation and its space programme is progressing with its economic progress ,and so is needed here.
Jai Hind!
Thanks KeralaViews, Chinmay, Mayuresh, Madhavan Nair, Xylene, Su, Sap, Sudheer, Vickram and Rohan for your views and comments.
I do agree with some points of yours.
Thanks for taking time out to expressing your opinions :-)
I’m surprised how Richa escaped Akimet :))
@Sandeep @Meg @Reema
U guys suck big time!!!!!!!!!!!!
@Rest of u ppl
India’s space research work is going to achieve a new milestone as it is all set for its maiden lunar mission and we’re proud of it.
Measured by the number and sophistication of their satellites, America and Europe may be ahead of India. But with an annual budget of about $1 billion—less than a tenth of NASA’s—ISRO covers a lot of ground. It has built and launched 46 satellites, which provide data for at least nine Indian government ministries. Its 11 national communications satellites are the largest network in Asia, and its seven remote sensing satellites map objects on Earth at a resolution of less than a meter. These form the backbone of a series of practical initiatives that, according to a Madras School of Economics study, have generated a $2 return for every $1 spent. We have clearly shown that we can give back to the country much more than is invested in the space program.
Lets think this way!!The cost is just 4 INR(10 cents) from every Indian’s pocket. We can launch 100 such missions. Imagine.The benefits are far more than what we are spending. Americans and Russians are not fools and neither do Japanese, Indians or Chinese.
Those indians who oppose Indias moon mission are FOOLS. We spend mere 386 crores for this which will benefit us in future. Compared to the unwanted and unjust spending by the government for minority appeasement and votebank politics, this amount is nothing.
@Sandeep @Meg @Reema
U guys suck big time!!!!!!!!!!!!(AGAIN)
ALL THE BEST CHANDRAYAAN!!!!!!!!!
Thanks Prashanth for making your point in a decent way.
@To all who doubt this mission or against it
You say these missions are not required just because of the money factor? So you want all the revenue which the government earns in say, teaching geography and placing dustbins?
You people cry about not enough electricity?One of the main aim of this mission is to look for helium-3 and develop technology for it.If this is successful India need not import coal and other fossil fuels from other countries to generate elecrticity. Compare 380cr with the amount of money it spends now on importing fuel for generating electricity.
And everyone nowadays are got so used to mobiles, the very factor which enabled this is satellites. By undertaking the moon mission we can develop more effecient launch vehicles, thereby reducing the cost of satellites and eventually everyday communication
And why should India leave space research only to western countries? Its not a problem of money, but the problem of mindset. And regarding the other problems you mentioned, its bad implementation of schemes by politicians and government employees. So instead of blaming such missions indiscriminately go use RTI and appreciate the hard work put up by Indian Scientists.
I wish all the best to ISRO and hope it will be successful and it takes more such programmes in future
@Sandeep
You speak about investing in defence. Lets look closely how Chandrayaan and defence are related.
For a while consider the moon mission is successful. We develop right technolgy to reach till moon. The next step is go there and come back. Thereby doing research in reentry technology.
Now, how is this related to defence?First, as all of us know, India’s longest range missile is Agni-III with range of some 3500Km. Its still being tested. So if India is successful in launching a rocket which goes out of space and specialises in reentry technology, it is equal to saying Inida has mastered ICBM technology. Both follow very similar technology.So by going to moon, India is also creating a capability to strike other countries and also in developing a missile shield.
These aspects, obviosuly will not be publicly told by the defence minister or ISRO chairman. These are implied observations.
Regarding poverty lets consider a case. Say 10 years from now India has the capability to mine half a ton of helium-3 from moon and bring it back. It can power India for half a decade. Compare that with the savings in fuel, pollution, foreign exchange, the money it earns from exporting this technology to DEVELOPED countries.
With this technology, India can later launch other countries probes to moon and other bodies.The profit it earns from a even a couple of such missions will be equal to money it spends now on the current launch.
The direct and indirect benefits far outweight the monetary cost of the mission.
its a kind of sacrifize do u know the engineers/scientist working for this project might not be earning that much if they have moved away from isro to join any other organiztaion. they are not duffer. they know what they are doing and how their work can bring the money back to the nation its not a blind project. how one can think of feeling like no no this is not my job this is job of us/nasa huuuuuuuh?
if u feel like this then whole life u will escape from this thing. its a very simple game look if nu think govt is gambling with 386 crore rs then go my dear and check what is the probability of success do some mathematics and u wud know that this is not a gambing but a craetion work which wud bring the money back to us by various means. ISro has proved its efficiency quite a long before. If u have any idea like that Govt can give u 2*386 crore or multiples of 386 crores if u cud prove that yr idea can bring this money back. And the current situation is if govt of india wud not give money there are many international communities interested to finance the ISRO work so forget that 386 crore that is nothing compared with the work of ISRO n stop this kind of blogs
atleast u people have energy to talk about it , im so sad not in position to think about it , 6 hours daily power cut , no production totall bussiness loss , survival is a question mark now
hmmm … did see a lot of people raising this same point. But, I believe its more like spending on a good comfortable car – little bit of comfort/luxuary, sometimes useful when u have to drive around people who matter and mostly coz it is a good boost to ego :)
I guess, just coz some (like installing a dust bin) other things are not done properly, we shudnt shun this. Its indeed a gr8 milestone and a step in to the future, apart from the pride / credibility POV. Most importantly, 386crores is not a lot considering the costs involved in a lot of infrastructure projects. Our country can sure afford it.
Sandeep,
You and your readers will probably find this post interesting:
The chandrayaan launch is not a waste. It represents various technologies that are getting fine tuned and will have various spin offs. yes we need to get dustbins but we need to improve in various other fronts too. if we had not progressed in IT many would be sweeping instead of getting jobs in IT companies etc. If we did not hve adequate stellite infrastructure many of the things we take for granted including metereological forecasting etc would be primitive. There are hundres of ways a space program helps a country be it defence, chemistry , physics etc. it is like asking why do we need an internet backbone when we cannot provide dustbins and so on and so forth. today many states have provided computers to every government schools. You can argue and find fault in it. But then if we still keep thinking in the stone age we will never improve. it has energized children and makes them whish for the stars. Do not kill it with pessimism.
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Sandeep,
Our revolutionary greetings to you sandeep for your ideas on chandrayaan.
The second largest country in the world is not going in the right direction.Intellectuals like you should raise your voice on all forum. Let us first work towards eradicating poverty, hunger and inequalities in the society.
Our ISRO head Nair goes to temples to pray god for its success.
What does that mean to democratic INDIA.
Indians awake and raise voice against further expeditions!
Maybe you should read this: http://blogs.siliconindia.com/Shantanu/HRpGg6v284282495
One should never talk without knowing both sides of the coin.
Why do you assume that spending money on research is actually taking money away from other programs? Chandrayaan is not happening at the expense of employement generation, poverty eradication, or education programs. Those have money allotted to them as well.
Just that our system is corrupt and the common man never sees too much being done. So do we hold it up against ISRO that they are hardworking and use the money for the right things, develop the right solution within the right time?
We have spent loads of money on the afforementioned social and economic causes. But the results are not as visible as the Chandrayaan because of the red-tape, the misappropriation of funds etc. The money spent on these goes into a black hole out of which nothing comes out, whereas I actually see something fruitful coming out of the Chandrayaan mission. No point blaming the govt or the ISRO for that!
You might want to reconsider –
Let’s leave the space research to the American organizations, there is no need for our Indian organizations to take up such missions. Brilliant Indian scientists can go to a rich and developed nation like USA or France or Russia for flexing their brain muscles for research in space.
By proposing the above you are actually promoting Brain Drain !
If the home nation can provide such intellectually satisfying opportunities, why should we have our brilliant minds go abroad?
Poverty, etc is all fine. Yet, I feel you have taken a very narrow view of this mission.
You raise an important issue. Lets look at it from another angle.
India may have been spending on space research, but now we have started making money out of the existing satellite launch technology. Its a huge pie, and if we can tap it to provide cost effective solutions then why not?
As for solving basic problems first, not sure if it should work that way. For a country to progress, growth should be balanced in all aspects. Providing water and electricity is important, but so is enhancing our knowledge of other fields.
Lopsided growth is unhealthy, and undesirable.
India’s space budget is about $1 bn, and Antrix corporation, their commercial wing, made over $200mn last year.
Compare this to the defense budget which is $20 bn.
We need to divert our spending, but not from an area where we are outshining most other nations.
i agree wit u a country like ours which does not even have enough infrastucture to employe atleast 1/2 of the educated population should not be waistin such huge amounts on mission such as chandrayan….. congrates u hav brought up a valid point.
well i am a bit late in this discussion .. but anyways … well sandeep the reasons u give for not carryin out this mission are not justifiable …. do not look at the short term benefits …..look at the long term benefits ….
today thanks to the satellites launched many years ago, even remote villages can rely on access to telephones and medical care through telemedicine. Similarly, if Helium 3, which is reported to be present on the lunar surface, is brought back to earth, it could help solve the energy crisis. A tonne of Helium 3, says experts, can generate a year’s supply of energy. Minerals found on the lunar surface could be commercially exploited by India. “It’s a long-term plan. We will need the minerals not just for the earth, but also when we colonise the moon or move to Mars
More jobs will be created when India manufactures the components necessary for further missions; revenue will flow in when India leases the PSLV and GSLV launch vehicles to other countries. Scientists argue that there are other intangible advantages as well. Attracting youngsters to space studies and aerospace research is one.
The price tag is not prohibitive either: the mission will cost less than 0.1% of India’s revenue collection.
At an estimated cost of Rs 386 crore, India’s outing to the moon would be much cheaper than purchasing a Boeing 747
this shud clear ur doubts….
and in any case what are todays engineers , doing??? …. do they care for the country?? they juss want to do an mba and earn money ….. u talk about upliftment of the poor and all ….but that can be achieved along with the chandrayaan mission if people show some interest …
indias mission to moon is a need . for future energy is needed one if the mission of this mip is to find helium 3 which is available only 15 tonnes so it is aneed.
i like your way of thought
its good
people are in hunger ,poverty and meeting many problems …..
why do we need all such luxuaries.
let india develop a good space research only after meeting all the needs of the country
isro space institute is also facing problems.the students there are hungry for indian food but only kerala food is provided ,govt has invested 300 carores for institute. what a huge waste of money this has been.there is no use of space scientists in development of poor countries.they are simply waste.they should be thrown out of india and government should take back their 300 carore rupees and utilize it for development of poor.space scientists are really a burden of earth.they do not contribute to development of anything.knowing about moon will not give food to poor people.so i think govt should close isro like organisation and should give the money to the poor people
i thnk d chandrayaan would be a proud moment 4 evry indian & will establish india’s status as a space faring nation.i thnk we shud be very optimistic dat india will definitely achieve success coz when it will get success del d day will nt so far wen india will also cum in d category of developed countries.
i thnk d chandrayaan would be a proud moment 4 evry indian & will establish india’s status as a space faring nation.i thnk we shud be very optimistic dat india will definitely achieve success coz when it will get success del d day will nt so far wen india will also cum in d category of developed countries.so all d best
hai !!!!!!!!!
I totally agree with ur decision though the mission brings to our nation 386 crores is a huge sum if the mission fails what happens to the money hard work spent ?
i do not quite agree with you sandeep. agreed that there are many grass-root level issues to be resolved, but this issue is no less important. as you already know, India is fighting hard to get bills like nuclear liability bills to be passed through the parliament so that it can ensure the fuel for its nuclear plants from foreign companies at any cost, so why not invest some money in exploring such valuable minerals among others on the alien bodies. this may safeguard Indian interest in the long run. also different space activities like those related to meteorology, communications, broadcasting are only for the benefits of people. lots of farmers are searching the hell in want water, so why not invest in research for building technology for artificial rain. developed communications system have already revolutionized the lives of every Indian.
also, there is one more aspect that i would like to focus on. in the ancient past India was one of the most developed nations, thanks to the technological advancements India had gained. but during the medieval periods, lack of such innovations led India to losing its sovereignty. while other nations industrialized, India strode backwards only. history repeats itself. so, if we do not focus on technological advancements, there is every chance that India will again have to submit itself to other developed countries.