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India launches 20 satellites in single mission

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Re: India launches 20 satellites in single mission

#81

Post by whack »

themartorana wrote: post #64
whack wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even ignoring all the factually false statements, that was an unnecessarily condescending rant.

Here we go again. The statements are not false, burying your head in the sand is not going to make uncomfortable things untrue. Minus the menstrual-pad thing, I've seen the rest with my own eyes in India.

"the majority of people live below international poverty lines"

The international poverty line is ~$700/year. India's average income, adjusted for purchasing parity, is $6100/year. If you're going to make inflammatory, derogatory statements, at least get your facts right.

Re: India launches 20 satellites in single mission

#82

Post by Retric »

sangnoir wrote: post #41
simonh wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most people laughed at it, and said it's impossible and what not. But guess what, India did send a successful Mars mission that's orbiting the red planet right now. Since then I take 'Expert' HN comments with a pinch of salt. I've been on HN for many years and my recollection is that the community here has been very supportive and encouraging of India's efforts in space technology.

> I've been on HN for many years and my recollection is that the community here has been very supportive and encouraging of India's efforts in space technology. Unless your memory is selective - you may recall that the support was far from unanimous. I recall a number of HNers stating that the ISRO budget would be better spent on other 'more pressing' challenges India is facing (poverty, sanitation). In fairness, the…

That's not being a naysayer. I think the same is true of the US space program.

If we really want to colonize space we need self sustaining habitats and highly compact and automated manufacturing from raw materials. Both can be done while staying on earth, and sending people up or yet another probe is mostly pointless.

Re: India launches 20 satellites in single mission

#83

Post by themartorana »

whack wrote: post #81
themartorana wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here we go again. The statements are not false, burying your head in the sand is not going to make uncomfortable things untrue. Minus the menstrual-pad thing, I've seen the rest with my own eyes in India.

"the majority of people live below international poverty lines" The international poverty line is ~$700/year. India's average income, adjusted for purchasing parity, is $6100/year. If you're going to make inflammatory, derogatory statements, at least get your facts right.

Are you really caught up on "majority"? Semantics are the line you've chosen to draw?

http://povertydata.worldbank.org/poverty/country/IND

In India, as of 2011:

- 293 million (or 22% of the population) live on less than $1.90 a day (international poverty line).

- 708 million (or 55% of the population) live on less than $3.10 a day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Below_Poverty_Line_(India)

"Internationally, an income of less than $1.90 per day per head of purchasing power parity is defined as extreme poverty. By this estimate, about 32.7% percent of Indians are extremely poor. Income-based poverty lines consider the bare minimum income to provide basic food requirements; it does not account for other essentials such as health care and education.[2] The number of people living on less than $1.9 per day in 2011 was 259.5 million (21.3% of the total population)."

32.7% are considered "extremely poor" and the poverty line counts only for basic food - not healthcare, education, etc.

India's poverty levels are extreme, severe, and talking about it is neither false, inflammatory, derogatory, or an attack.

Edit: what's with the glut of down-votes all of a sudden? Usually links and evidence - especially in recognizing social injustice - are welcomed on HN.

Re: India launches 20 satellites in single mission

#84

Post by dragonwriter »

whack wrote: post #81
themartorana wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here we go again. The statements are not false, burying your head in the sand is not going to make uncomfortable things untrue. Minus the menstrual-pad thing, I've seen the rest with my own eyes in India.

"the majority of people live below international poverty lines" The international poverty line is ~$700/year. India's average income, adjusted for purchasing parity, is $6100/year. If you're going to make inflammatory, derogatory statements, at least get your facts right.

> > "the majority of people live below international poverty lines"

> The international poverty line is ~$700/year. India's average income, adjusted for purchasing parity, is $6100/year.

The mean income (which is the average for which that statement is true) tells you nothing about whether the majority is above or below a certain point, unless you know independently that the distribution is normal, so that the mean is also the median (but that's unlikely for an income distribution in a country.)

Re: India launches 20 satellites in single mission

#85

Post by netcan »

sidcool wrote: post #24

There will be naysayers when a second or third world country achieves a milestone. Inspite of similar feats done before by developed nations, this is huge for developing economies. Similar thing happened when the earlier Prime Minister of India announced that India will launch a Mars mission within a year at a fraction of cost at what NASA or ESA would do it. Most people laughed at it, and said it's impossible and wh…

I'm not gonna speak for HN, but I read this site and personally I'm totally behind India's ambitions in space. I'm happy to cheer their successes and I hope it's meaningful to Indians too.

The one thing I sometimes complain about is the nationalism. India's no worse than the others on tis front. I'd like (personally) for space exploration to be a human endeavor rather than a national one.

Re: India launches 20 satellites in single mission

#86

Post by vthallam »

netcan wrote: post #85
sidcool wrote: post #24

There will be naysayers when a second or third world country achieves a milestone. Inspite of similar feats done before by developed nations, this is huge for developing economies. Similar thing happened when the earlier Prime Minister of India announced that India will launch a Mars mission within a year at a fraction of cost at what NASA or ESA would do it. Most people laughed at it, and said it's impossible and wh…

I'm not gonna speak for HN, but I read this site and personally I'm totally behind India's ambitions in space. I'm happy to cheer their successes and I hope it's meaningful to Indians too. The one thing I sometimes complain about is the nationalism. India's no worse than the others on tis front. I'd like (personally) for space exploration to be a human endeavor rather than a national one.

Agree! But, the nationalism display happens because of 2 reasons. 1) People making fun of how all Indian villages doesn't have electricity and it is spending money which is a waste. When someone makes this point on social media, people go on defensive on how great ISRO and India is. 2) The government and media aggressively pushes this as national achievement to ignite interests in sciences among kids and youth.

At the end of the day, ISRO will be an Indian space agency and so the nationalism display, sometimes though excessive.

Re: India launches 20 satellites in single mission

#87

Post by intended »

simonh wrote: post #37
sidcool wrote: post #24

There will be naysayers when a second or third world country achieves a milestone. Inspite of similar feats done before by developed nations, this is huge for developing economies. Similar thing happened when the earlier Prime Minister of India announced that India will launch a Mars mission within a year at a fraction of cost at what NASA or ESA would do it. Most people laughed at it, and said it's impossible and wh…

> Most people laughed at it, and said it's impossible and what not. But guess what, India did send a successful Mars mission that's orbiting the red planet right now. Since then I take 'Expert' HN comments with a pinch of salt. I've been on HN for many years and my recollection is that the community here has been very supportive and encouraging of India's efforts in space technology.

This was my recollection as well. People who were making the "starving children in Africa" argument were being downvotes and rebutted.

I remember a large number of users who were enthusiastically supportive.

Mostly what I remember is how quickly the conversation dove into people wondering why the American program was expensive, then discussions on Musk.

The mission was just straight up cool and everyone was kicked to see it succeed.

(I think many people here are still kicked that we as a species could get a satellite that far, and at that cost)

Re: India launches 20 satellites in single mission

#88

Post by intended »

geodel wrote: post #68
sidcool wrote: post #24

There will be naysayers when a second or third world country achieves a milestone. Inspite of similar feats done before by developed nations, this is huge for developing economies. Similar thing happened when the earlier Prime Minister of India announced that India will launch a Mars mission within a year at a fraction of cost at what NASA or ESA would do it. Most people laughed at it, and said it's impossible and wh…

And you are here to preempt naysayers legitimate concerns? It has nothing to do with third world achievements. It is more about Nehruvian style elites claiming glory in scientific achievements while day-to-day problems that vast underclass is facing goes unanswered because it is tough. So Indian achievements are in categories where they punish or reward a small group because that is easier than tackling major issues…

Sorry but this gets my Goat.

ISRO saves lives. Their satellites, gave us early warning during the Cyclones 2-3 years ago, allowing for rapid evacuation and relief.

They put food on our plates and help poor farmers plan crops because those satellites are the ones giving us excellent, world class meteorological data.

It's done on a budget so tiny, that the ROI for this division is possibly better than any other government department in India. AND - ISRO launches make money for the organization.

It's an example of excellence in challenging conditions, and everything that Nehruvian style engineering stood for.

They do India proud, and naysayers can be safely ignored.

Re: India launches 20 satellites in single mission

#89

Post by meanduck »

rrrazdan wrote: post #61

As an Indian and personal supporter of the Indian space program, I don't see this as a feat in the international sense. What was the technological leap? ISRO could have done this few years back as well. Its just that the payload combination clicked this time. By bragging about things like these we merely betray our jingoism. And what's more when a real technological feat happens it would be drowned out because we glo…

> By bragging about things like these we merely betray our jingoism. And what's more when a real technological feat happens it would be drowned out because we gloated over things like this.

Yes exactly. So much gloating for so many things. Only if it were media, but our prime minister tweeting so much about this one event, its not proper. At least @isro has not joined this circlejerk.

Anyway its better to ignore these press-releases and focus on the people who does the real work. So does ISRO have tech blog or something where they go in detail ?

Re: India launches 20 satellites in single mission

#90

Post by dang »

Zelmor wrote: post #48

That is an aged political view of the world. Nowadays, a third world country is where you can die of disease, infection, etc. by drinking water due to lack of sanitation. Where infrastructure is missing almost completely, and where the majority of people live below international poverty lines (no, US families with 3 bedroom houses and loans to pay are not below the international poverty line. People sleeping in their…

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11952270 and marked it off-topic.
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