Mangalyaan: ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

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sumishi
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by sumishi »

Karthik S wrote:
manoba wrote:Why these loosers, belly achers, whiners, complain only when a nation like India spends money in scientific advancements, but not the crores of rupees spent on Bollywood, cricket, reality shows, other mind numbing entertainments and mad consumerisms.
Because, that's the sign of degenerating societies.
Or may be because despite the fact that they are a 'rich' country, they still don't have such accomplishments till date.
Rule of Thumb. Any SDRE rocket to Mars, will also go up their ar_e. :evil:
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by rahulm »

It's cup day . Melbourne cup day distorts all sense of reality here.

We have our own DDM.
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by abhijitm »

manoba wrote:Why these loosers, belly achers, whiners, complain only when a nation like India spends money in scientific advancements, but not the crores of rupees spent on Bollywood, cricket, reality shows, other mind numbing entertainments and mad consumerisms.

Because, that's the sign of degenerating societies.
Science and research > learn new tech > help local manufacturing industries > create demand > create more jobs > eradicate povery. R&D is an essential oil of any country's economy machine. But you cannot sell this to western hypocrites.

So don't argue with the western hypocrites using our own culture as examples. Argue, say what if we kick McDonalds, KFCs, Subways out of India, how much money will be saved? mcdonalds vs space science mmm hard choice. Indians spend approx $100m per year on mc-d. Lets save that money. What about coke and pepsi? Essentials? Save that money too! Also what about selling fancy military toys to India? Why not stop that and implement strictly Made In India policy?

You want us to compromise our space program? Fine. But as the first step of eradicating poverty from India - we will stop eating western junk food and stop buying western mil hardware :D Why it has to be the Indian space program be the first? We shall set up Sovereign Poverty Eradication Bond, just like Infra Bonds and encourage people to invest their money on them instead of spending on western junkies. Lets see how this goes and then we will decide on our space program in due time :mrgreen:
Last edited by abhijitm on 05 Nov 2013 16:39, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by Arunkumar »

If mars capture happens perfectly we will be first country to do so in one attempt. PSLV again proves its worth. Kudos to ISRO and also to godrej, L&T and other pvt sector players who made this happen.

Russians would be taking a hard look at the proton. One even flew a brahmos type profile this june before crashing into the steppes around baikonur.
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by Rahul M »

/OT

NREGA alone costs 40,000 Cr, annual spending on health ~4.1 % of >2 trillion $ GDP. add sundry other welfare schemes besides.
ISRO annual revenue from foreign launches and sale of sat data : > 750Cr
Mars Mission : 450 Cr what % of total GDP spend on welfare would that be ?

someone needs to put the numbers out there and shut up those numerically challenged hypocrites for good.
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by Avid »

quote="rahulm"]India launches mission to Mars

Indian Mars mission blasts off from southern spaceport

India launches spacecraft to Mars (The usual spectrum of comments best ignored)[/quote]
First link is hilarious
The 350-tonne launch vehicle carries an unmanned probe that Indian scientists plan to put into orbit around Mars, a feat only the US, Europe and Russia have achieved. The launch was monitored by dozens of scientists in the control room who face their most daunting task since India began its space program in 1963.
The journey of about 680 million kilometres will take almost a year, the Indian Space Research Organisation said.
a) 1,350 Kg
b) Total distance that the orbiter will travel perhaps? Distance to Mars could be anywhere between ~35mn to 250 mn miles.
(Open to being corrected, but some things look awesomer down under).[/quote]

The distance may be the total orbital distance traveled, not just straight line (as you have pointed out)
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by wig »

a great day for the nation and I pray that it is the first to many more such voyages into the beyond in future!
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by uddu »

The U.S channels especially CNN types are trying to make this as a India vs China issue. :rotfl:
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by uddu »

Congrat ISRO.
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by syele »

Congratulations ISRO. Vande Mataram!
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by anmol »

Why Mars?
indianexpress.com | Nov 30th -0001

Amitabha Ghosh : Tue Nov 05 2013, 10:40 hrs

ISRO should explore new frontiers, not replicate what's been done by others.

It's not always a great idea to ask questions during a countdown. More so when it's a mission to Mars by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at a time when the dominant mood in the country is one of gloom. But ask we must, given how ISRO has been one of Indian science's few success stories. Despite and because of its recent string of failures.

Indeed, one of the biggest technology priorities for ISRO should be to complete the development of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). The GSLV, which has been under development for more than a decade, has held up ISRO's progress in earth science, space science and human spaceflight. Since the GSLV is not operational, ISRO is constrained to use the much less powerful Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) to further its ambitions in space. The PSLV can launch about 3,250 kilogrammes to low Earth orbit (LEO). To put this in the context of the capability of launch vehicles, this is less than 1/25 of the largest launch vehicle, the Saturn V, which launched astronauts to the moon. Launch vehicles used for planetary missions are significantly more powerful than the PSLV. The Atlas V, which was used to launch the Curiosity rover, can deliver three to six times the mass to LEO. ISRO has taken more than 15 years to develop the GSLV. Compare this to the time taken by other organisations to develop similar launch vehicles — a startup company called SpaceX started from scratch and operationalised the Falcon 9, which can deliver about two times the mass the GSLV can to LEO, in about seven years.

A possible priority for ISRO should have been to follow up Chandrayaan-1, with which it made significant progress in planetary exploration, with a more capable lunar mission. Contrary to popular perception, Chandrayaan-1 did not fulfil its design requirements. The spacecraft did not complete its nominal (planned) mission of two years — it ended in less than a year. A majority of orbiters meet or exceed the duration of their nominal mission. From the outset, there were thermal problems that caused the spacecraft to overheat. Raising its orbit towards the end of the mission did not prevent this. There were serious problems with the navigational system, which crippled the spacecraft's capability to determine its orientation in space. ISRO also lost contact with Chandrayaan, the reason for which could not be unambiguously established. An argument can be made that ISRO should have embarked on Chandrayaan-2, to address the shortcomings of Chandrayaan-1, before embarking on Mangalyaan, which inserts additional complexities like latency — the time taken for a radio signal from Mars to travel is tens of minutes, compared to the near-instantaneous signals from the moon. And deep space communication — the distance to Mars is twice the distance between Earth and the moon.

Another possible priority for ISRO should have been to further its aspirations in human spaceflight. In 2007, it had announced India's plans to launch humans in space by 2016. Little headway has been made in that direction. China, in comparison, has launched astronauts in space and is on track for launching its own space station in the next 10 years. There is also the question of whether a human spaceflight programme is even relevant in the 21st century, which has ushered in the era of cheaper robotic exploration of planets.

Instead of focusing on other priorities, ISRO has chosen to undertake a Mars Orbiter Mission. Mangalyaan will enable the organisation to develop its capability in deep space communication, though it's unclear to what extent NASA's deep space network would help ISRO and to what extent it will develop its own capability. Also, the mission will help ISRO learn how to operate a spacecraft under latency.

Since 1996, NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have launched four orbiters (Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Express), four rovers (Pathfinder, Opportunity, Spirit and Curiosity) and one lander (Phoenix). Each of these has flown a variety of scientific instruments to Mars. Because of its limited instrument payload and mapping orbit, Mangalyaan is unlikely to add to the breadth or quality of data generated by other Mars missions. For example, Mangalyaan will strive to measure Martian topography. But the laser altimeter onboard the Mars Global Surveyor has already made 640 million elevation measurements and has produced a very detailed topographic map of Mars. It's unlikely that Mangalyaan will significantly add to our understanding of Martian topography.

To wait until the GSLV was operational, rather than use the PSLV, would have been better for a scientific mission to Mars. This would have allowed the use of more instruments for a comprehensive investigation. The science payload for Mangalyaan (15 kg) is significantly less than that for a comparable orbital mission like the Mars Express (116 kg).

Mangalyaan will strive to measure the methane abundance of Mars. In this context, it is significant that the Curiosity rover has not been able to find methane in the parts per million range on the surface of the planet — the upper limit for methane abundance is 1.3 parts per billion. This dims the hope that Mangalyaan will be able to detect it. Also, its detection does not amount to evidence of life on Mars. A scientific case needs to be made as to why the methane should be biogenic or related to life. The presence or absence of a methane signature from orbit is not definitive evidence for the presence or absence of Martian life.

The risk profile of Mangalyaan is of significant concern. Given that India is launching its first mission to Mars, the 15 months taken to develop the spacecraft is worrisome. To put this in context, NASA/ESA missions have 36-48 months of development time and a significant portion of their hardware has been validated on previous missions. The failure rate of missions to Mars is greater than 50 per cent. A long and thorough developmental schedule would have ensured the necessary engineering rigour to maximise the chance of a successful mission. It is possible that Mangalyaan has been in development for a much longer period than what is officially acknowledged. But if the development time was as announced, this might translate into serious technology risks and the threat of mission failure. Launch windows to Mars occur once every two years. If the developmental schedule was hastened to catch the launch window, it could be a severe misjudgement. It might have been worthwhile to extend the development schedule and wait for the next launch window in 2015. If ISRO pulls off a picture-perfect mission, it will be setting a new global standard in spacecraft development under schedule pressure.

If successful, Mangalyaan will replicate what NASA accomplished in the 1960s and 1970s. While this is admirable, given that very few nations have successfully orbited Mars, it would hardly be a novel accomplishment in the world of technology. ISRO need not recreate what has already been done. To be relevant, it should chart its own unique trajectory of frontline discoveries that will leave an imprint on space science and technology.

The indirect benefit of a successful mission would be a change in the perception of India in foreign policy, business, culture and beyond. In the 1990s, in the eyes of the world, India went from being a country known for its ancient traditions to a country of technology-literate people adept at programming. A successful Mangalyaan would change the way Indian are viewed — from technocrats to scientists, engineers who can successfully take on problems on the frontiers of technology.

The writer is a science operations working group chair on the NASA Mars Exploration Rover Mission. Views are personal.

express@expressindia.com<</i>
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by harish_ch »

anmol wrote:
If ISRO pulls off a picture-perfect mission, it will be setting a new global standard in spacecraft development under schedule pressure.
Kudos ISRO
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by Comer »

^^ I concur with the above. There should not have been any programs by NASA after Sputnik and flight of Yuri Gagarin /s.
So GSLV, Chandrayaan-2 and Human space flight are the other options. One is dismissed by the author himself. Why chandrayaan-2 since moon has also been explored? Indians should work only on GSLV as one can't walk and chew gum at the same time.
we should have created trishanku and only explored that one
It would haveen better if he declared his job as part of the article than just at the end.
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by SaiK »

Congratulations on the copy book launch as usual for ISRO.. let us keep a focus till it is able to successfully orbit mars, thab mangal hoga!
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by manjgu »

personally, i agree with the article. a) firstly i dont know how this figure of Rs 450 crore for the mars mission been calculated? the project has been going on since last 18 months..in my opinion the figure is much higher but the expenses have been hidden/marked under other heads. b) the BRF posters may enlighten us as to what new tech(s) have been validated?? which will have spinoffs in other fields?
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by Bade »

Happy Diwali, ISRO :-) and for more diwalis to come !

I do not understand why Mr Ghosh has an issue, as long as ISRO has not claimed that they are doing what others have not done before. Besides as Dr J Goswami (from PRL) pointed out, no one has ruled out the presence of methane conclusively yet. It is still an open question. Besides, in science one can ask the question at multiple levels. For instance discovery of presence of water on the moon, does not mean one cannot plan future missions directed at some unanswered problems on a related matter to presence of water.
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by chackojoseph »

Hmmm... it's a technology demonstrator with scientific payloads.
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by panduranghari »

It all started with this. Just wow. Well done ISRO.

Image
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by Bade »

I think we should have not used the word technology demonstrator, it in a way belittles the accomplishment when it will happen in a year's time.
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by chaanakya »

Congratulations to ISRO and dedicated Scientists who have made this possible.
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by venkat_r »

Good Job!!!! Fruits of this tree will come in a year!

Great stride.
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by KJo »

This is great, makes me very proud! Good luck ISRO, we are all cheering for you!
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by manjgu »

@venkat_r...what kind of fruits will be harvested? pl enlighten us... i think the mission budget is much higher...with questionable goals...they should be investing more in comm satellites, recon satellites, tech to kill chinese satellites, cyrogenic engines, GSLV ?? totally misplaced prioroities..IMHO
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by negi »

Orbit raising maneuvers and eventually transit from earth's influence to sun's and then finally to Mar's gravitational sphere of influence will be interesting .
All this using a piddly LAM is awesome.


Bahut mood mein hain so reminded of old couplet from Bihari Lal.


"Satsaiya ke dohre jyun naavik ke teer
Dekhan men chote lage ghaav kare ghambir.
"

The couplets of Satsai are akin to arrows of a sailor,
they appear to be small but make deep cuts. :D
Last edited by negi on 05 Nov 2013 20:36, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by KJo »

What are the goals of this mission? Does anyone have any information on this?
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by Varoon Shekhar »

"@venkat_r...what kind of fruits will be harvested? pl enlighten us... i think the mission budget is much higher...with questionable goals"

Foreunner of more interplanetary missions to discover the solar system and universe; boost to commercial launches, as other countries may use Indian launchers for their own outerspace missions( payloads, satellites); first stepping stone to colonise outer space, admittedly a long way off; pure science, for possible discoveries on Mars itself; gives common people of India something to cheer about and feel good; successful mission would place India ahead of China and Japan; ends the '6th country syndrome' India is usually saddled with; demonstrates technological strength and breakthrough, in traversing 3 orbits...

It should certainly not come at the cost of the GSLV development, and it doesn't look at this time, that it will.
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by abhijitm »

In fact ISRO and India being questioned by the west and their puppets is a really good sign. It means we are becoming noticable technology competitor.

Moving up in the ladder. Good.
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by sumishi »

The primary objective is to put Mangalyaan into Mars orbit. As per Dr RK that will meet 85% of the mission objective. Navigating through 3 SOIs (Spheres of Influence) -- Earth, Sun and Mars -- with latency factored in, will be a tremendous achievement and a learning experience.
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by pankajs »

Congratulations to ISRO!

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/why-mars-/1190937/0
If successful, Mangalyaan will replicate what NASA accomplished in the 1960s and 1970s. While this is admirable, given that very few nations have successfully orbited Mars, it would hardly be a novel accomplishment in the world of technology. ISRO need not recreate what has already been done. To be relevant, it should chart its own unique trajectory of frontline discoveries that will leave an imprint on space science and technology.
If the highlighted part was to be put into practice, forget Mangalyana we wouldn't have developed our rockets or sats.
ISRO has taken more than 15 years to develop the GSLV. Compare this to the time taken by other organisations to develop similar launch vehicles — a startup company called SpaceX started from scratch and operationalised the Falcon 9, which can deliver about two times the mass the GSLV can to LEO, in about seven years.
Now taken alone the above, especially the highlighted portion seems like an indictment of ISRO. The gentleman from NASA is being economical with the truth or at least is trying to paint a picture that is far from truth about SpaceX efforts.

http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oce/appel/ask/issues/40/40s_space-x.html - NASA + SpaceX Work Together
The NASA 2007 Government Invention of the Year, a lightweight heat-shield material developed at Ames Research Center, was the basis of the Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) heat shield ...

<snip>

Given PICA's light weight and high performance, and the potential to benefit from knowledge gained on Orion and MSL, SpaceX chose PICA for its Dragon spacecraft, a pressurized capsule designed to carry cargo and eventually astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit. The company asked experts at Ames to provide support for the development of a 3.6-meter PICA shield for Dragon, and NASA made its expertise and specialized facilities available to SpaceX. SpaceX undertook the design and manufacture of the reentry heat shield; it brought speed and efficiency that allowed the heat shield to be designed, developed, and qualified in less than four years.

<snip>

NASA sent Dan Rasky, one of the original developers of the material, to spend most of 2008 working half time at SpaceX's Los Angeles facility.

<snip>

The speed of the process was enhanced by having many of NASA's technical experts only a phone call away.

<snip>

SpaceX has the advantage of speed and the freedom to innovate; NASA brings a breadth of experience and technical expertise to the table. It was NASA, after all, that carried out the research to develop the phenolic impregnated carbon material in the first place. NASA has unmatched experience in how materials and spacecraft actually behave in flight. And NASA has special facilities that small entrepreneurial companies could not readily afford. So, for instance, SpaceX makes use of the arcjet facilities at Ames that offer the only way to test the Dragon shield material at the requisite high temperatures.
This is not to belittle the remarkable achievements of SpaceX but to understand how a startup achieved so much in such a short span of time. It is also to note that SpaceX did not start from scratch as far as technologies, facilities and trained manpower were concerned.
Last edited by pankajs on 05 Nov 2013 21:01, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by anupmisra »

Congratulations India.

I wonder why the Brits are complaining? At least the ISRO Mars venture benefits the Indian nation in the long run. For a nation in decline, I wonder what long term benefits the Brits got out of the insane costs of celebrating their geriatric queen's golden jubilee? Queen's Diamond Jubilee: cost of the celebrations. Hint: Over 1.3 Billion Pounds.
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by Bade »

Nice find pankajs. I often find it amusing when people bring up how private companies are a lot better than publicly funded entities. Private entities do well in limited roles, but if you want institutional memory to be preserved and passed down the generations, there is no substitute to public orgs like ISRO or NASA.
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by pradeepe »

One hell of a finale for Diwali!

Negotiating 3 orbital transfers. Mind boggling stuff. Wow!

Congratulations ISRO!
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by rajanb »

Congratulations ISRO!

Forget the DDmitis which I just heard on the 9PM news.

My Tax Rupees well spent!. Keep it up. What you do today, the country will savour decades from now.
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by member_23962 »

Varoon Shekhar wrote:"@venkat_r...what kind of fruits will be harvested? pl enlighten us... i think the mission budget is much higher...with questionable goals"

Foreunner of more interplanetary missions to discover the solar system and universe; boost to commercial launches, as other countries may use Indian launchers for their own outerspace missions( payloads, satellites); first stepping stone to colonise outer space, admittedly a long way off; pure science, for possible discoveries on Mars itself; gives common people of India something to cheer about and feel good; successful mission would place India ahead of China and Japan; ends the '6th country syndrome' India is usually saddled with; demonstrates technological strength and breakthrough, in traversing 3 orbits...

It should certainly not come at the cost of the GSLV development, and it doesn't look at this time, that it will.
Congrats ISRO. It could help to show the world about the technical ability India posses. Fantasy for many people

I agree that it should not have been achieved at the cost of GSLV development. ISRO should now set the priority right and get the GSLV going.. Their focus should have been GSLV. Technological breakthrough should be given higher priority then show offs.......
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by TSJones »

Congratualtions to India! A 100% indigenous effort!
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by TSJones »

The gentleman from NASA is being economical with the truth or at least is trying to paint a picture that is far from truth about SpaceX efforts.
Official NASA would never say anything like that. Unfortunately NASA can't control what other writers say.

It always irks me when people damn other people's efforts with faint praise. There is no fair comparison between NASA and ISRO. Certainly not monetary wise. Maybe someday, eh?
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by Bade »

As for mission goals:
ISRO is hoping to discover more about the loss of water from Mars, map the sources of methane gas, as well as collecting data about the two moons Phobos and Deimos.
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/04/world ... ?hpt=hp_t2
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by Lalmohan »

i dont think this mission is a show off, i think it will inspire a new generation of technologists
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by Pranay »

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/11 ... ml?hp&_r=0
Some have questioned the $72 million price tag for a country of 1.2 billion people still dealing with widespread hunger and poverty. But the government defended the Mars mission, and its $1 billion space program in general, by noting its importance in providing high-tech jobs for scientists and engineers and practical applications in solving problems on Earth.

Decades of space research have allowed India to develop satellite, communications and remote sensing technologies that are helping to solve everyday problems at home, from forecasting where fish can be caught by fishermen to predicting storms and floods.
The orbiter will gather images and data that will help in determining how Martian weather systems work and what happened to the large quantities of water that are believed to have once existed on Mars. It also will search Mars for methane, a key chemical in life processes that could also come from geological processes. Experts say the data will improve understanding about how planets form, what conditions might make life possible and where else in the universe it might exist.

The orbiter is expected to have at least six months to investigate the planet's landscape and atmosphere. At its closest point it will be 365 kilometers (227 miles) from the planet's surface, and its furthest point will be 80,000 kilometers (49,700 miles) away.
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Re: Mangalyaan : ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

Post by Varoon Shekhar »

TSJones wrote:
The gentleman from NASA is being economical with the truth or at least is trying to paint a picture that is far from truth about SpaceX efforts.
Official NASA would never say anything like that. Unfortunately NASA can't control what other writers say.

It always irks me when people damn other people's efforts with faint praise. There is no fair comparison between NASA and ISRO. Certainly not monetary wise. Maybe someday, eh?
Well said! It's irksome to read things like why India is doing something others have done etc. India obviously wants its own independent programme, and it is very possible they could discover something about Mars or the Moon, that others have not.
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