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ISRO Mars Orbiter Mission: Spacecraft successfully enters Martian Orbit

isro.gov.in

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Re: ISRO Mars Orbiter Mission: Spacecraft successfully enters Martian Orbit

#111

Post by chdir »

pierrec wrote: post #79
sidcool wrote: post #43

I remember when in 2012, the then PM of India had declared this project. The entire internet community came together to deride this, saying it's not possible in a couple of years and that India had better feed its hungry etc. I am a very proud Indian today. This achievement, like other by humanity (LHC in particular), will encourage me to push myself towards greatness.

The HN discussion was indeed a disheartening mix of skepticism and criticism: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4385241

There's an insane amount of cynicism and bitterness in that thread. I had to close the tab after a handful of comments.

Re: ISRO Mars Orbiter Mission: Spacecraft successfully enters Martian Orbit

#113

Post by humanrebar »

melling wrote: post #78
usbreply wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The entire internet community came together to deride this why the persecution complex ? Yes there was criticism, but there is always criticism of everything on the internet. Another proud Indian.

Yes, but the people who do a lot of the criticizing seem to just shrug their shoulders then start criticizing the next thing. As humans, we often don't learn from our mistakes. And in democratic societies, we expend a lot of energy dealing with the noise.

On the other hand, people should have listened to critics before the Titanic, the Hindenburg, the last Columbia launch, the last Challenger launch, the Big Dig, the Iraq War, the launch of the Obamacare websites, and a bunch of other large undertakings.

The critics were wrong in this case, but writing them off as noise can lead to other mistakes.

Re: ISRO Mars Orbiter Mission: Spacecraft successfully enters Martian Orbit

#115

Post by noisy_boy »

People who keep making the (nonsense) point of space vs. better roads keep harping on how the money will be better spent on infrastructure.

I looked up the Indian planning commission's budget for 2013-14 road development. Planning Commission provided an annual outlay of Rs.37,300.00 Crore for 2013-2014 for development in road sector[1]. That is more than 6 billion USD - just for improving roads, for a year.

The budget of the Mars Orbiter mission was around 75 million USD[2] i.e. less than 1.5% of [1].

[1]: http://www.performance.gov.in/sites/default/files/department...

[2]: http://www.forbes.com/sites/saritharai/2013/11/07/how-indias...

Re: ISRO Mars Orbiter Mission: Spacecraft successfully enters Martian Orbit

#116

Post by disputin »

MrScruff wrote: post #110
vesche wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should learn to admit when you're wrong.

Your comment has significantly less content than his. Not that I particularly wanted to mention it until reading your comment, but I also don't particularly understand associating yourself with the activities of strangers who happen to live close to you. It's really not that unusual a viewpoint.

Socialising success. "I'll take some of that, thanks." I've been meaning to give it some proper thought for ages. People celebrating when a sports team wins, as if their own accomplishment. That aside, congrats to ISRO, great stuff.

Re: ISRO Mars Orbiter Mission: Spacecraft successfully enters Martian Orbit

#117

Post by induscreep »

sidcool wrote: post #43

I remember when in 2012, the then PM of India had declared this project. The entire internet community came together to deride this, saying it's not possible in a couple of years and that India had better feed its hungry etc. I am a very proud Indian today. This achievement, like other by humanity (LHC in particular), will encourage me to push myself towards greatness.

Is this really an achievement when someone else could do it in 1965? Is it an achievement when other countries can land rovers on mars? India should be a leader, not follow others' footsteps.

EDIT: 1971, not 1965

Re: ISRO Mars Orbiter Mission: Spacecraft successfully enters Martian Orbit

#118

Post by noisy_boy »

humanrebar wrote: post #113
melling wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but the people who do a lot of the criticizing seem to just shrug their shoulders then start criticizing the next thing. As humans, we often don't learn from our mistakes. And in democratic societies, we expend a lot of energy dealing with the noise.

On the other hand, people should have listened to critics before the Titanic, the Hindenburg, the last Columbia launch, the last Challenger launch, the Big Dig, the Iraq War, the launch of the Obamacare websites, and a bunch of other large undertakings. The critics were wrong in this case, but writing them off as noise can lead to other mistakes.

With exception of the Iraq War and Universal Healthcare websites, pretty much everything was an accident.

Sending an orbiter to Mars is advancing science and knowledge. Aside from the fact that this was an unmanned mission, ambitious projects mostly have an extra element of risk by definition. Inactivity due to that would be stopping advancement.

Besides, India spent USD 75 million on it. It's GDP is 1.877 trillion USD approx. Its peanuts[1].

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8361505

Re: ISRO Mars Orbiter Mission: Spacecraft successfully enters Martian Orbit

#120

Post by chatman »

pingpong_table wrote: post #13
realrocker wrote: post #10

Not only did Mom reach Mars, she also got a pretty good bargain on it. So Indian :)

My Mom is an engineer working at ISRO designing satellite components and this line totally fits! She's vacationing so I just called and gave her the good news. :-D

Please convey my salute to her! She made me a proud Indian today.
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