13 ms·

India to launch its first mission to Mars [video]

136 points by gagan2020 13y ago

malandrew 13y ago
The MOM craft will cary thermal infrared imaging spectrometer to map Mars’ surface composition and mineralogy. These findings — coupled with the information gleaned from the NASA’s Curiosity Rover — will give us a better understanding of Mars’ surface, in preparation for the first human visitors to the Red Planet. So serious question: why do we keep only planning on missions to Mars? It seems like setting up a permanent moonbase would be a very prudent goal to work on at the same time that we are looking to head to mars.
- Achshar 13y ago
  Mars has a better atmosphere and magnetosphere. Setting up a base would be easier (in the long run) on mars and compared to moon because of the amount of upkeep required. That and marks is a lot more interesting (geologically) than moon since we now know that it once had free flowing neutral water. Plus the length and temperature of day/night cycle is more manageable and earth like for mars as compared to moon.
  - danielweber 13y ago
    Mars has basically no magnetosphere. It still has an atmosphere, and thin as it is it'll still protect you from a lot of cosmic and solar radiation. (Not as much as Earth's atmosphere does, though.) I agree it's definitely way easier to colonize Mars than the Moon.
- rgower 13y ago
  Believe it or not, the Moon would be much more difficult to colonize. With absolutely not atmosphere, you're totally naked to the harsh environment of radiation from space. Mars has a thin but substantial atmosphere, and easily accessible resources. With current technologies, the only way to colonize the Moon is to do it underground - a non-trivial engineering hurdle to say the least.
klackerz 13y ago
The mission may be postponed to 2014 if the US government shutdown continues.
- swatkat 13y ago
  Not necessarily. ISRO needs NASA's Deep Space Network to communicate with spacecraft only when it gets too far away from Earth. ISRO's Bangalore DSN can handle it during initial days (how many?) of launch. Moreover, NASA is launching MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) in November. So, it looks like NASA's DSN will indeed be operational despite govt. shutdown. Let's hope for the best. http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/indias-october-28-mars-mission-on-schedule-isro/article5204371.ece http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/indias-october-28-m... ------- Update: "NASA/JPL authorities have reaffirmed support for the MOM as planned and stated that the current US government partial shutdown will not affect the schedule of MOM," Bangalore-headquartered Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement." http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/nasa-reaffirms-support-to-indias-mars-orbiter-mission-isro/1/313321.html http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/nasa-reaffirms-support-to...
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
monsterix 13y ago
Nice. I hope they put all our politicians on it too. I love science, and I am from India -- but then there are a lot of other economic machinery related things that we need to figure out first. I mean the usual things which are NOT rocket science. By the time ISRO of India matures up, rocketry elsewhere will move away from public institutions to the more competitive and cut-throat marketplace of private players. So I just don't see the point, enlighten me if there is one. Besides Indian Government should rather (and at least) be focusing on the more serious issues drowning 'our country in our own poop' -- things like corruption, poverty, malnutrition, malaria, dengue, power outages etc. What not! [Update: Wow. So many reactions, some name-calling too. All answers address the usual aspects of 'why science should run in parallel and not in series' and other advantages. These are UNDERSTOOD, for if they're not why even discuss? Can someone explain how ISRO is gonna compete tomorrow, and do the same space exploration at a competitive cost, when the rest of the world would have moved to space industry being managed by private players and even start-ups? Someone indicated below that ISRO operates on a shoe-string budget. Can we fix that at least? No, kill the messenger instead.]
- Techasura 13y ago
  Well said. Poverty, age old education structure, old traditions and thinking strategies has to get a major change. Then they launch this rocket and it seems meaningful by then.
  - param 13y ago
    According to Neil deGrasse Tyson (I am paraphrasing from some lecture somewhere) - humanity on Earth has always been deep in shit. If we expand our horizons (via Science, not just astronomy) instead of focusing _exclusively_ on welfare, we will do better in the long run. This mission to Mars will help in ways that we can't even imagine now
    - monsterix 13y ago
      > humanity on Earth has always been deep in shit. Agreed, but at this point welfare, direction, basic education, tactical advantage, military advantage, logical thinking, karma and pretty much everything else is _exclusively_ ignored. Even in 'mericah it is now the private players doing the rocket rounds. Kind of like NASA, the big daddy, making way for the young and restless to come in and take over. Where would the strategy of having 'exclusive ISRO' stand in the near term?
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
sidcool 13y ago
There will be people here who will chastise government for undertaking such an ambitious activity when there are many other problems the country is facing. To all of them: your logic is flawed.
fallingmeat 13y ago
This comment has nothing to do with India, ISRO, politics or Mars, but I am curious if anyone with expertise can comment on the clean room practices seen applied in this video. Is it odd that the workers don't have on full 'bunny' suits and have (what seems to be) a relatively large amount of skin/hair unprotected? I don't know if it matters that much, it just seems a little lax given the cost of failure.
- iamshs 13y ago
  I think it is a Class 100,000 cleanroom (where not much precautions are taken) rather than Class 1 or 10 wherein typical lytho processes happen. The inner assembly must be done in Class 10 cleanroom, and I do not think so they will show a video of it publicly. Btw gloves, shoe covers, face mask, hair protection, safety glasses are also "missing".
- kamaal 13y ago
  Firstly, I've visited ISRO Bangalore(A few years back). And I did see the exact things you mentioned. I did ask the guy(Not sure, if he was the PR guy) who took our class for the tour. His answer was, they were likely assembling some test equipment and not the real equipment that was going to space.
Sam121 13y ago
Single line i want to say "Proud to be an Indian".
kamaal 13y ago
This is sheer awesomeness, not just with regards to what they are doing but how they are doing it. ISRO is operating at a near throw away budget, almost a near rounding error in India's national budget. And these people have delivered at a whole new level. I remember when chandrayaan-1 was launched, that morning I was traveling early morning to office. It was a big moment in the history of Indian space research, we were so excited we were hardly able to work the whole day. ISRO is just redefining how government run institutions must function. On a side note, I went to ISRO as a part of our college's industrial tour. Many of my classmates just dismissed the whole thing and never showed up for the tour as they wanted to go to IBM, Microsoft and Google etc. Of the few of us who went there, we had a humbling experience as to what we saw. There were no AC rooms, plush cubicles, carpets and other perks we have in our large Indian IT companies. These people were working on ordinary steel tables, with a near dying fan over their had, windows open and sipping tea in a steel cup for 50 paise. And these guys were writing the control system software that would run on the moon mission. It was an humbling experience.
- kops 13y ago
  Many a times I used to be stuck behind an ISRO bus while driving to office. Their bus can be described as more suitable to transfer prisoners than the best minds in the country. Then they will go off to work on rocket science as I inched my way towards building a web application for GM. Feels kind of weird. I guess it is about time that their funding is increased to be more in line with the quality of people they have and their contribution to the country. Hats off to the whole lot at ISRO, BARC, TIFR and myriad other such institutes...
  - zhaphod 13y ago
    I have fond memories of ISRO. I did my internship there working on wavelets and remote sensing data. ISRO is a shining diamond compared to all other government agencies here in India. Go ISRO.
- fromdoon 13y ago
  Thanks for your comment Kamaal. I think most of us realize the intangible value that ISRO creates. Space Tech is here to stay. The cooperation between NASA and ISRO is commendable and shows the weight ISRO carries in the current Space Tech world. We might have many many problems in India but we have to remember that we are human beings too. We also carry a sense of adventure. We also strive for the unknown. Space Tech is an art, more so in case of ISRO given there small budget. Here are a bunch of people who want to ride to the frontiers of space from whatever meagre resources they have and they deserve a standing ovation for that. Not only for achieving what they have, but also for trying it. For every naysayer, there would be hundreds who would stand in awe of every step anyone with a heart filled with dreams takes. For there is a little child in everyone of us who still hasn't given into the negativity of this modern day life and somehow believes in the most daring challenges. For that is what makes us human and our evolutionary history is an indisputable proof of that. Godspeed ISRO.
codecrusade 13y ago
This must happen- India's only hope is massive Govt Funded projects that accomplish something and hope the engineering debri to spawn an ecosystem of high tech companies.(hope they dont migrate to the US)
shiven 13y ago
Ad Astra ISRO! Good luck and Godspeed. Two men, once looked out of the bars. One saw the sand and the other saw the stars. (Haters gonna hate and all that ...)
danieltoomey 13y ago
I guessed I missed the solution to millions of starving people hanging about with no job prospects.
- cscurmudgeon 13y ago
  You all missed out when they were handing out decency and common sense. [Someone who has spent a stint at awesome ISRO.]
stuff4ben 13y ago
It seems like the article only talks about the MOM probe. What rocket are they going to fly on? Very cool though, especially on the budget constraints! Ad astra per aspera. One day I look forward to seeing my American, Indian, Chinese, African, etc... brothers and sisters on Mars toasting humanity and it's achievements. What a glorious day that will be!
- swatkat 13y ago
  MOM probe will be carried by ISRO's PSLV-XL (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle - Extended). More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Orbiter_Mission http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Orbiter_Mission
throwawaykf 13y ago
A secondhand anecdote about ISRO: Was out drinking with friends a few years ago when we saw the news about (or was it Leno joking about?) the moon impact probe successfully crashing into the moon. Turns out one of my friends had done his Bachelor's engineering project (kind of like the BS Senior Design project in US colleges) at ISRO, and he was working on something that would be part of the probe project. He was there when the goverment pulled off Pokhran. He tells me that because of the diplomatic fallout, all international technology transfer deals ISRO had with various Western organizations instantly were unilaterally canceled by the foreign parties. (Even in the commercial arena, I know of international collaboration projects that were abruptly canceled. I think Pokhran was a very stupid, shortsighted move by the government to score brownie points with the population just to confirm what the world already knew.) My friend estimated the Pokhran fallout set them back at least 4 years, because suddenly a bunch of technology they were expecting to get ready-made, they had to start researching and developing themselves from scratch. And yet when the Moon Impact Probe finally happened, it was right on schedule.
- zhaphod 13y ago
  This anecdote tells you how many good people still work at ISRO. I have been in SW industry in India for the last 13 years and I have seen more than a couple of dozen ISRO employees quitting ISRO and joining the SW industry. I guess ISRO can achieve even more if they can offer better remuneration and purely merit based promotions. One can dream.
dr_ 13y ago
Really? Resources would be far better spent providing uninterrupted electricity and clean drinking water to its citizens. Instead India spends it's capital on trying to promote national pride and patriotism.
- curiousDog 13y ago
  What does patriotism have to do with this? Does NASA conduct research to promote American pride? The thinking is that development of space technology will spawn new techniques/materials that could lead to new areas of research, find use in day to day life and overall, spur the economy. Every country in the world has poverty. You don't see them stopping all work to help them out.

136 points by gagan2020 13y ago

The MOM craft will cary thermal infrared imaging spectrometer to map Mars’ surface composition and mineralogy. These findings — coupled with the information gleaned from the NASA’s Curiosity Rover — will give us a better understanding of Mars’ surface, in preparation for the first human visitors to the Red Planet. So serious question: why do we keep only planning on missions to Mars? It seems like setting up a permanent moonbase would be a very prudent goal to work on at the same time that we are looking to head to mars.

Achshar 13y ago
Mars has a better atmosphere and magnetosphere. Setting up a base would be easier (in the long run) on mars and compared to moon because of the amount of upkeep required. That and marks is a lot more interesting (geologically) than moon since we now know that it once had free flowing neutral water. Plus the length and temperature of day/night cycle is more manageable and earth like for mars as compared to moon.
- danielweber 13y ago
  Mars has basically no magnetosphere. It still has an atmosphere, and thin as it is it'll still protect you from a lot of cosmic and solar radiation. (Not as much as Earth's atmosphere does, though.) I agree it's definitely way easier to colonize Mars than the Moon.
rgower 13y ago
Believe it or not, the Moon would be much more difficult to colonize. With absolutely not atmosphere, you're totally naked to the harsh environment of radiation from space. Mars has a thin but substantial atmosphere, and easily accessible resources. With current technologies, the only way to colonize the Moon is to do it underground - a non-trivial engineering hurdle to say the least.

klackerz 13y ago

The mission may be postponed to 2014 if the US government shutdown continues.

swatkat 13y ago
Not necessarily. ISRO needs NASA's Deep Space Network to communicate with spacecraft only when it gets too far away from Earth. ISRO's Bangalore DSN can handle it during initial days (how many?) of launch. Moreover, NASA is launching MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) in November. So, it looks like NASA's DSN will indeed be operational despite govt. shutdown. Let's hope for the best. http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/indias-october-28-mars-mission-on-schedule-isro/article5204371.ece http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/indias-october-28-m... ------- Update: "NASA/JPL authorities have reaffirmed support for the MOM as planned and stated that the current US government partial shutdown will not affect the schedule of MOM," Bangalore-headquartered Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement." http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/nasa-reaffirms-support-to-indias-mars-orbiter-mission-isro/1/313321.html http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/nasa-reaffirms-support-to...
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

monsterix 13y ago

Nice. I hope they put all our politicians on it too. I love science, and I am from India -- but then there are a lot of other economic machinery related things that we need to figure out first. I mean the usual things which are NOT rocket science. By the time ISRO of India matures up, rocketry elsewhere will move away from public institutions to the more competitive and cut-throat marketplace of private players. So I just don't see the point, enlighten me if there is one. Besides Indian Government should rather (and at least) be focusing on the more serious issues drowning 'our country in our own poop' -- things like corruption, poverty, malnutrition, malaria, dengue, power outages etc. What not! [Update: Wow. So many reactions, some name-calling too. All answers address the usual aspects of 'why science should run in parallel and not in series' and other advantages. These are UNDERSTOOD, for if they're not why even discuss? Can someone explain how ISRO is gonna compete tomorrow, and do the same space exploration at a competitive cost, when the rest of the world would have moved to space industry being managed by private players and even start-ups? Someone indicated below that ISRO operates on a shoe-string budget. Can we fix that at least? No, kill the messenger instead.]

Techasura 13y ago
Well said. Poverty, age old education structure, old traditions and thinking strategies has to get a major change. Then they launch this rocket and it seems meaningful by then.
- param 13y ago
  According to Neil deGrasse Tyson (I am paraphrasing from some lecture somewhere) - humanity on Earth has always been deep in shit. If we expand our horizons (via Science, not just astronomy) instead of focusing _exclusively_ on welfare, we will do better in the long run. This mission to Mars will help in ways that we can't even imagine now
  - monsterix 13y ago
    > humanity on Earth has always been deep in shit. Agreed, but at this point welfare, direction, basic education, tactical advantage, military advantage, logical thinking, karma and pretty much everything else is _exclusively_ ignored. Even in 'mericah it is now the private players doing the rocket rounds. Kind of like NASA, the big daddy, making way for the young and restless to come in and take over. Where would the strategy of having 'exclusive ISRO' stand in the near term?

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

sidcool 13y ago

There will be people here who will chastise government for undertaking such an ambitious activity when there are many other problems the country is facing. To all of them: your logic is flawed.

fallingmeat 13y ago

This comment has nothing to do with India, ISRO, politics or Mars, but I am curious if anyone with expertise can comment on the clean room practices seen applied in this video. Is it odd that the workers don't have on full 'bunny' suits and have (what seems to be) a relatively large amount of skin/hair unprotected? I don't know if it matters that much, it just seems a little lax given the cost of failure.

iamshs 13y ago
I think it is a Class 100,000 cleanroom (where not much precautions are taken) rather than Class 1 or 10 wherein typical lytho processes happen. The inner assembly must be done in Class 10 cleanroom, and I do not think so they will show a video of it publicly. Btw gloves, shoe covers, face mask, hair protection, safety glasses are also "missing".
kamaal 13y ago
Firstly, I've visited ISRO Bangalore(A few years back). And I did see the exact things you mentioned. I did ask the guy(Not sure, if he was the PR guy) who took our class for the tour. His answer was, they were likely assembling some test equipment and not the real equipment that was going to space.

Sam121 13y ago

Single line i want to say "Proud to be an Indian".

kamaal 13y ago

This is sheer awesomeness, not just with regards to what they are doing but how they are doing it. ISRO is operating at a near throw away budget, almost a near rounding error in India's national budget. And these people have delivered at a whole new level. I remember when chandrayaan-1 was launched, that morning I was traveling early morning to office. It was a big moment in the history of Indian space research, we were so excited we were hardly able to work the whole day. ISRO is just redefining how government run institutions must function. On a side note, I went to ISRO as a part of our college's industrial tour. Many of my classmates just dismissed the whole thing and never showed up for the tour as they wanted to go to IBM, Microsoft and Google etc. Of the few of us who went there, we had a humbling experience as to what we saw. There were no AC rooms, plush cubicles, carpets and other perks we have in our large Indian IT companies. These people were working on ordinary steel tables, with a near dying fan over their had, windows open and sipping tea in a steel cup for 50 paise. And these guys were writing the control system software that would run on the moon mission. It was an humbling experience.

kops 13y ago
Many a times I used to be stuck behind an ISRO bus while driving to office. Their bus can be described as more suitable to transfer prisoners than the best minds in the country. Then they will go off to work on rocket science as I inched my way towards building a web application for GM. Feels kind of weird. I guess it is about time that their funding is increased to be more in line with the quality of people they have and their contribution to the country. Hats off to the whole lot at ISRO, BARC, TIFR and myriad other such institutes...
- zhaphod 13y ago
  I have fond memories of ISRO. I did my internship there working on wavelets and remote sensing data. ISRO is a shining diamond compared to all other government agencies here in India. Go ISRO.
fromdoon 13y ago
Thanks for your comment Kamaal. I think most of us realize the intangible value that ISRO creates. Space Tech is here to stay. The cooperation between NASA and ISRO is commendable and shows the weight ISRO carries in the current Space Tech world. We might have many many problems in India but we have to remember that we are human beings too. We also carry a sense of adventure. We also strive for the unknown. Space Tech is an art, more so in case of ISRO given there small budget. Here are a bunch of people who want to ride to the frontiers of space from whatever meagre resources they have and they deserve a standing ovation for that. Not only for achieving what they have, but also for trying it. For every naysayer, there would be hundreds who would stand in awe of every step anyone with a heart filled with dreams takes. For there is a little child in everyone of us who still hasn't given into the negativity of this modern day life and somehow believes in the most daring challenges. For that is what makes us human and our evolutionary history is an indisputable proof of that. Godspeed ISRO.

codecrusade 13y ago

This must happen- India's only hope is massive Govt Funded projects that accomplish something and hope the engineering debri to spawn an ecosystem of high tech companies.(hope they dont migrate to the US)

shiven 13y ago

Ad Astra ISRO! Good luck and Godspeed. Two men, once looked out of the bars. One saw the sand and the other saw the stars. (Haters gonna hate and all that ...)

danieltoomey 13y ago

I guessed I missed the solution to millions of starving people hanging about with no job prospects.

cscurmudgeon 13y ago
You all missed out when they were handing out decency and common sense. [Someone who has spent a stint at awesome ISRO.]

stuff4ben 13y ago

It seems like the article only talks about the MOM probe. What rocket are they going to fly on? Very cool though, especially on the budget constraints! Ad astra per aspera. One day I look forward to seeing my American, Indian, Chinese, African, etc... brothers and sisters on Mars toasting humanity and it's achievements. What a glorious day that will be!

swatkat 13y ago
MOM probe will be carried by ISRO's PSLV-XL (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle - Extended). More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Orbiter_Mission http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Orbiter_Mission

throwawaykf 13y ago

A secondhand anecdote about ISRO: Was out drinking with friends a few years ago when we saw the news about (or was it Leno joking about?) the moon impact probe successfully crashing into the moon. Turns out one of my friends had done his Bachelor's engineering project (kind of like the BS Senior Design project in US colleges) at ISRO, and he was working on something that would be part of the probe project. He was there when the goverment pulled off Pokhran. He tells me that because of the diplomatic fallout, all international technology transfer deals ISRO had with various Western organizations instantly were unilaterally canceled by the foreign parties. (Even in the commercial arena, I know of international collaboration projects that were abruptly canceled. I think Pokhran was a very stupid, shortsighted move by the government to score brownie points with the population just to confirm what the world already knew.) My friend estimated the Pokhran fallout set them back at least 4 years, because suddenly a bunch of technology they were expecting to get ready-made, they had to start researching and developing themselves from scratch. And yet when the Moon Impact Probe finally happened, it was right on schedule.

zhaphod 13y ago
This anecdote tells you how many good people still work at ISRO. I have been in SW industry in India for the last 13 years and I have seen more than a couple of dozen ISRO employees quitting ISRO and joining the SW industry. I guess ISRO can achieve even more if they can offer better remuneration and purely merit based promotions. One can dream.

dr_ 13y ago

Really? Resources would be far better spent providing uninterrupted electricity and clean drinking water to its citizens. Instead India spends it's capital on trying to promote national pride and patriotism.

curiousDog 13y ago
What does patriotism have to do with this? Does NASA conduct research to promote American pride? The thinking is that development of space technology will spawn new techniques/materials that could lead to new areas of research, find use in day to day life and overall, spur the economy. Every country in the world has poverty. You don't see them stopping all work to help them out.