Behind the scenes video of the mission.
India is sending a rover to the moon, and the country is pumped
81–90 of 221 posts
Re: India is sending a rover to the moon, and the country is pumped
#82I’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.
The United States had plenty of homeless people when we went to the moon, perhaps we shouldn’t have?
The answer will depend on who you ask. Have you tried asking a homeless person? Or are you speaking on their behalf?
Re: India is sending a rover to the moon, and the country is pumped
#83Folks 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 engin…
This reminds me of the excuses for spending billions of dollars hosting the Olympics. "All the infrastructure improvements will help the locals!" Well, yes, but if infrastructure is your goal there are a lot less costly ways to go about it. I'm sure a country that decided to build an underwater amusement park would end up acquiring some technical know-how on engineering, but that doesn't make that a practical goal.
Re: India is sending a rover to the moon, and the country is pumped
#84Awesome. The more the merrier. India will become an economically powerful nation just like China is today. Just a matter of time.
The sooner the better. We need a democratic counterpoint to China's totalitarianism.
India 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.
Re: India is sending a rover to the moon, and the country is pumped
#85Folks 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 engin…
I respect your perspective, but based on your answer I’m assuming you are not living in poverty?
Re: India is sending a rover to the moon, and the country is pumped
#86I’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.
Similar argument can be made about homelessness in San Francisco and other cities. Poverty elimination and tech progress can go hand in hand. In fact, it can help: https://homelessness.paulallen.com/
Not really the same thing, the per capita GDP of the US is vastly higher than India.
A lot of that homeless could be solved with more equal wealth distribution.
30:1 between US and India according to google (not accounting for PPP).
Re: India is sending a rover to the moon, and the country is pumped
#87Awesome. The more the merrier. India will become an economically powerful nation just like China is today. Just a matter of time.
India is in a lower middle income group, its neighbours except pakistan are moving or in midle to upper-middle income groups already. Srilanka, China and bangladesh are middle, higher middle and soon to be middle income group countries respectively. India is far behind on many indicators and right wing governments world over dont have a great track record of improving the economy. India seems likely to get stuck in middle income trap like Brazil but with much low oil resource and large uneducated skill less population which is destined to be a liability in the next decades to come unless India is able to magically transform its low skill population into an equivalent chinese work force. But that is unlikely due to education disparity in the population, and a religious system where a large population does not have access to education. So all in all India is destined to be a basket case of untapped potential.
Re: India is sending a rover to the moon, and the country is pumped
#88Folks 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 engin…
Computers are an even better example. Their early usages were incredibly primitive, limited, and astronomically expensive. You had governments dropping very large amounts of money on what were glorified calculators. If you would have even suggested that these 'computing machines' would lead to what we have today, it would have sounded like fantasy. The most remarkable thing is that the transition from effectively no computers to them revolutionizing our entire species happened in less than a single human lifetime.
And I see no reason to expect anything different with space. Developing the technology to sustainably colonize other planets will bring opportunities that we cannot even imagine today. And I think we can all see such things, but it's easy to get mind-locked in the drama of the present while forgetting about the longer path that we are already set well upon. It is interesting to consider that the saying "When a wise man points to the moon, the fool examines the finger." is, itself, many centuries old.
Re: India is sending a rover to the moon, and the country is pumped
#89I’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.
There 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.
There is always “one comment like this” because most people here are not poor. If poor people were in this community, then you’d see many more comments like this.
You think it’s worth it. I’m not saying it’s not worth it. I’m simply saying, if you ask poor people, many of them won’t think it’s worth it. And most people in India are very poor.
Re: India is sending a rover to the moon, and the country is pumped
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some knowledge only can be learned by doing. Also, space technology is, due to its close tie to missile technology, one of those few modern technologies with walls up.
What are you talking about? India has Nuclear weapons and self made 12k km range ICBMs already
"Walls up"
"Self made"
Exactly.