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India is sending a rover to the moon, and the country is pumped
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- pvelagal 7y agoAccording to the article, Israel used a similar technique for landing but failed. Wonder if India will be successful!
- age_bronze 7y agoNo organization ever managed to land on the moon so far on the first try. My guess is that this won't be any different.
- kaycebasques 7y agoMaybe they have the benefit of learning from the failures of other countries? Not sure how much space agencies share information with each other.
- msaharia 7y agoNo organization had ever put an orbiter around Mars in their first try. Until Mars Orbiter Mission of ISRO in 2014. I wouldn't rule them out. ;) https://www.isro.gov.in/mars-orbiter-mission-completes-1000-days-orbit https://www.isro.gov.in/mars-orbiter-mission-completes-1000-...
- vishnugupta 7y agoInterestingly, India is the first country to successfully send a Mars probe on the first attempt.
- trothamel 7y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveyor_1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveyor_1 The US series of surveyor probes landed on the moon on the first try. I think it's reasonable to argue that these were the first US attempts to land on the moon - while the Ranger probes had seismometer capsules with retrorockets, they were meant to crash into the moon at 150 miles per hour and survive.
- smbullet 7y agoHmm this is a really morbid thought but I wonder when we'll see the first person die on the moon. Will it be an astronaut or a civilian? What would be different today if the Apollo 11 crew never came back?
- tanakachen 7y agoI’ve been to India, and seeing the catastrophic living condition of the majority of its citizens makes me question if going to the moon is the right priority.
- sidcool 7y agoThere is always one comment like this. But fine. It always is worth. These things inspire the nation. Instill pride. They work wonders. And India's space program is much less expensive than many other nations. India sent a rocket to Mars that was cheaper than the budget for the movie Interstellar.
- Kaiyou 7y agoAt the end of the day what is needed is to create wealth, not to spend it. Spending wealth while lots of people in the country are living in poverty in a way, that doesn't directly address this problem may come off as having the wrong priorities. This is about perception.
- sidcool 7y agoSpace is an excellent opportunity to create wealth and provide employment. So your argument is still wrong.
- Tialco 7y agoAre you joking? Have you seen the amount of space ventures that have gone bankrupt? Try and start a rocket company and go look for funding. It's a terrible opportunity to create wealth in the short term (10/20/30 year timespan). However, in the 30-50 year timespan, it seems like a terrific opportunity to create wealth (perhaps rivaled only by nuclear fusion) if we can work our way up to sustainable/reusable rockets and colonies on Mars/Moons. If we can get asteroid operations set up and start exploring the rest of the solar system (and eventually the galaxy) then we can have a society without scarcity. The main problem is, we will all probably die before we see the benefit (instead we'll see losses). So, how do we value the lives of posterity in comparison today. I find it ironic how the same people who use the "think of the children" argument the most are also the most against investing in space exploration. My bias is also that we should value posterity the same as we value humans alive today. But then again, we still can't even agree on the basic question of whether a life in Africa is worth the same as a life in the United States.
- Robotbeat 7y agoAwesome. The more the merrier. India will become an economically powerful nation just like China is today. Just a matter of time.
- skavi 7y agoThe sooner the better. We need a democratic counterpoint to China's totalitarianism.
- rounce 7y agoIndia may have some kind of democracy but it's far that enjoyed in a western European nation. The open support by some BJP politicians for the lynch mobs and killers of Muslims and Dalits is unconscionable.
- taarushv 7y ago40% of BJP members of parliment have criminal records/charges against them. Including murder and rape. I'm Indian but I've lost faith in Indian politicians years ago. Only way I see a reform coming about is if more of the youth view politics as a viable/worthy career path. Right now, the lunatic amount of emphasis on Engineering/Science paths to highschool kids is draining all talent. Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/elections/lok-sabha/india/in-2019-general-elections-no-bar-on-candidates-charged-with-murder-or-rape/articleshow/69318220.cms?from=mdr https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/elections/lok-sabh...
- vthallam 7y ago> the lunatic amount of emphasis on Engineering/Science paths to highschool kids is draining all talent. What does this even mean? Politicians with criminal cases against them(not convicted) in India is as old as 1947. It's very easy to charge someone and shift the burden to the charged person that they prove themselves innocent. That doesn't mean there aren't bad people, it just takes a lot of time before this changes. Singling out a single party on a forum where little people have cultural context just shows the bias.
- gpm 7y agoUseful reddit page with links to all the livestreams (at least 4), timeline of updates, point form mission details https://old.reddit.com/r/ISRO/comments/ccbpvm/gslv_mk_iii_m1_chandrayaan2_mission_updates_and/ https://old.reddit.com/r/ISRO/comments/ccbpvm/gslv_mk_iii_m1...
- Herodotus38 7y agoI was about to link this as well, glad you beat me to it. At the time of this comment launch is about (edit) 90 min hours away, they have finished liquid oxygen fueling, and loading hydrogen.
- dmix 7y agoLooks like it was called off 4hrs ago due to a technical problem.
- Herodotus38 7y agoTrue, I haven't heard yet when it will be rescheduled. I heard the remaining launch windows in July are extremely small, so it may be some time before another attempt.
- msaharia 7y agoJust a note: Chandrayaan-2 has Muthyya Vanitha as Project Director and Ritu Karidhal as Mission Director. This is the first time in ISRO a woman is a Project Director. According to ISRO Chairman - 30% of team are women. https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/trends/chandrayaan-2-meet-two-women-scientists-charge-india-second-lunar-missio/story/364229.html https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/trends/chandrayaan-2-mee...
- aslam2014 7y agoWell, India first needs to improve its poverty and the living standard of people instead of wasting money.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- noonespecial 7y agoThat's like saying that there's too much wood to cut to waste time sharpening axes.
- bayder 7y agoWell why don't you donate the INR 400 internet pack you use to surf internet while a lot of people are starving of hunger?
- Kaiyou 7y agoWhy spend my money to help unrelated people so unrelated people can waste their money on a space program? How would I benefit from that?
- sbmthakur 7y agoThe launch will be livestreamed on Twitter and Facebook by ISRO. You can also watch it on ISRO's website, on TV(through Doordarshan -Indian state channel), and on Doordarshan's YouTube channel as well. The launch is at 2:51 AM IST(9:21 PM UTC).
- lewisjoe 7y agoFolks who suggest dealing with poverty before launching machines to space: the economy doesn't work like that, FYI. If a country acquires deep technical know-how on engineering, it means the country can use it to spin out new industries and export that utility. That is how a country makes money. After world war II, Germany didn't give away all the remaining money to war survivors. They built rock-solid airplane engines and cars, which in turn improved the economy overall.
- godelski 7y agoTldr: working on any difficult problem causes you to learn things. That knowledge can be used for much more than that original difficult problem.
- easytiger 7y agoExcept the country already acquired all that via globalisation. This isn't 1952. There are few walls up on many technologies. India has acquired most of its know-how by undercutting developed nations and getting them to teach them how to do the work.
- suyash 7y agoLol, you must be joking, in fact it's the opposite. It's majority of Indians who are doing cutting edge research and innovating just look at what's going on any day in Silicon Valley or any top Universities. Now they are starting to do the same in their country while being creative with lost cost solutions.
- mruts 7y agoYou’re saying it’s Indians that are doing the majority (>%50) of cutting edge research? That’s just not true, even in the slightest.
- shripadk 7y agohttp://www.forbesindia.com/article/innovation-special/18-indian-minds-who-are-doing-cutting-edge-work/32312/4 http://www.forbesindia.com/article/innovation-special/18-ind... EDIT: Since Hacker News won't allow me to post a reply. I am editing this post here. You misunderstood what he said. He said that "majority of Indians" are doing cutting-edge research in foreign Universities. Not "majority of cutting-edge research" are being done by Indians. Both have different meanings. Most Indians who travel to foreign countries get higher education grants/fellowships to work on cutting-edge research. Very few Indians actually travel for undergraduate courses. India has prestigious universities like IITs/NITs which are equal to and in some cases better than Western counterparts. The reason why Indians travel to Western countries for research is because of lack of research grants to carry out Scientific experiments that might run into many millions/billions of dollars. In other words, this is brain drain at its finest.
- happy-go-lucky 7y agoNow ISRO has its official YouTube channel. Watch Live: Launch of Chandrayaan 2 by GSLV MkIII-M1 Vehicle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USpCu-Z1usk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USpCu-Z1usk
- BuckRogers 7y agoThe country is "pumped" huh? So they're slapping each other on the ass, grunting in support of their next bench press max attempt? Get pumped up, India. I'm criticizing use of this sort of language in modern journalism.
- Tialco 7y agoSo...the rocket is going to blow up?
- 0xFFFE 7y agoBehind the scenes video of the mission. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGaxR9yrUQY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGaxR9yrUQY
- amriksohata 7y agoGot to laugh at the ones saying deal with poverty rather than goto the moon. You don't seem to moan when countries like India spend money buying our military hardware do you?
- Gys 7y agoSomething in the line of 'Making America|India|<country X> Great Again' I guess. Good for them. Personally it helps me (living very comfortably in an European country) not to feel any guild reading articles like https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/11/world/asia/india-water-crisis.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/11/world/asia/india-water-cr...
- switchb4 7y agoI can definitely say that you just have an average mind.
- rahuldottech 7y agoIt just got called off. See here: https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/isro-chandrayaan-2-launch-live-countdown-starts-for-india-s-second-moon-mission-119071400177_1.html https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/is...
- thetruthseeker1 7y agoWhen US was spending billions on Minuteman and Apollo missions, there were many problems in America, including poverty. Not sure? ask the African Americans in the south from that time. However, very little energy was spent on questioning whether spending in space was right thing to do. If developing countries spend a miniscule of their budget ( ISRO budget less than 2%), there is cynicism. I think what India is doing is great and is great for improving India's technical abilities and India doesn't need to answer what it chooses to do with its money.
- whatshisface 7y ago>However, very little energy was spent on questioning whether spending in space was right thing to do. That's not true. Public opinion about the moon missions was divided throughout the whole program, and a lot of effort was spent debating it. It is only in retrospect that it seems like a no-brainer, because everyone who was against it has been forgotten and we know it was a success.
- fellellor 7y agoCan we have one Indian space related thread without the discussion of poverty? From neither Indians nor others? Lately, there will be one random idiot saying something about hygiene. But then every single comment that follows will be about, how no one has the right to say that. How about you guys don't react to that crap for once?
- glasshead969 7y agoWhat’s the point of posting about Indian space program here if it’s going to devolve in to arguments how India is poor. What is new that is being said here that hasn’t been said before. So depressing. Just to add numbers ISRO’s budget is 0.5% of Indian GDP, given that more money is probably wasted because of corruption and stupid policies I think this is not the worse way to spend money.
- Jagat 7y agoTo the naysayers, I only have one thing to say. If in future (say 20 years down the line), a research agency needs to send their rover to the moon and they have two options: Pay $1bn to NASA, or $200mn to ISRO, who would you think they'd choose? Private companies have already started using ISRO for launching mini satellites, and it may not be long before it becomes a cashflow positive company in the global market.
- rohit2412 7y agoPlus why look at research agencies. India needs to launch it's own communication, and weather monitoring satellites. It's much cheaper to develop and use your own capabilities.
- beckalennart 7y agoI lived in India for several years. Given I was on assignment from the US, I wasn’t affected by the poverty but I saw it every single day. Personally, I find this technological effort exciting, but I would imagine that those less fortunate would find this a deeply irresponsible use of resources.
- lkloosterman 7y agoDamn, it's going to be interesting to see how they're managing to get the whole country of India to the moon...
- aiyodev 7y agoLet’s hope they remember to close the hatch before takeoff. https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a14783891/someone-left-a-hatch-open-and-crippled-indias-dollar29-billion-submarine/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a147838...
- talonx 7y agoThe sarcasm in the article leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
- Albertchrist 7y agoIt is also carrying one satellite of NASA. on top of that...India is planning to land their rover on south pole of the moon which is no yet done by any other country.By this probably we will get new information about moon which helps us to get more insights about chances of life on moon.