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Mangalyaan, India's Mars Orbiter, has successfully commenced its journey to Mars

isro.gov.in

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Re: Mangalyaan, India's Mars Orbiter, has successfully commenced its journey to Mars

#11

Post by hrjet »

iamshs wrote: post #4
balakk wrote: post #2

So does this mean we just sit back & watch for 10 months? Or can something go wrong after this as well?

Main risk factor of this whole program was the injection into earth orbit with correct orientation. The journey to Mars should be relatively risk-free. There still will be minor corrections en-route to Mars by firing engines. Mainly, now we sit back and wait for it to be captured by Mars gravity, the next major step where failure can occur.

> the injection into earth orbit with correct orientation.

Can that be called a new achievement for the launch vehicle? Is it more difficult than a high orbit satellite?

Re: Mangalyaan, India's Mars Orbiter, has successfully commenced its journey to Mars

#12

Post by mani04 »

kens wrote: post #8
balakk wrote: post #2

So does this mean we just sit back & watch for 10 months? Or can something go wrong after this as well?

Here's a summary of Mars missions and their success/failure: http://mars.nasa.gov/programmissions/missions/log/ Lots can go wrong on the Mars side. E.g. Mars Polar Lander - smashed into Mars. Beagle 2 - last heard from just before landing. Mars Climate Orbiter - failed to land because of confusion between pounds and Newtons. Deep Space 2 - no communication after landing. Mars Observer - communication lost 3 days from…

From that NASA website on mission logs - anybody else noticed that the success rates have dramatically increased after 2000?

I am wondering if this has got anything to do with significantly enhanced computing power we have nowadays.

Re: Mangalyaan, India's Mars Orbiter, has successfully commenced its journey to Mars

#14

Post by chattoraj »

Before someone makes the inevitable "Why are they spending money on this instead of fixing poverty?" argument:

The whole Mars mission costs about as much as making four Bollywood movies.

http://www.firstpost.com/india/ten-price-tags-to-put-isro-ma...

Re: Mangalyaan, India's Mars Orbiter, has successfully commenced its journey to Mars

#15

Post by monsterix »

chattoraj wrote: post #14

Before someone makes the inevitable "Why are they spending money on this instead of fixing poverty?" argument: The whole Mars mission costs about as much as making four Bollywood movies. http://www.firstpost.com/india/ten-price-tags-to-put-isro-ma...

Both Bollywood and Mangalyan are a distraction from the core issues, poverty being one of them. Why do people react to criticism that is inevitable for such a mission?

In my opinion, space probe to Mars is a good idea for space engineers and for the idea of adventure, it should be nurtured. But the moment the Indian Government a$$holes (who have eaten up more than 10000X that amount which a Mangalyan costs) and their media toots start projecting this achievement of engineers as their own "moment of glory" and a proof towards India becoming a global superpower, everything falls flat on the face.

There should be no doubt that poverty IS the biggest challenge for us (I am an Indian) to work on, and there are people with achievements in rural tech to help people over with just that. No space wizardry, just basic engineering. Heroism, inspiration and aspiration should be centred and drawn around those people too, India needs it more.

Re: Mangalyaan, India's Mars Orbiter, has successfully commenced its journey to Mars

#16

Post by jlmorton »

monsterix wrote: post #15
chattoraj wrote: post #14

Before someone makes the inevitable "Why are they spending money on this instead of fixing poverty?" argument: The whole Mars mission costs about as much as making four Bollywood movies. http://www.firstpost.com/india/ten-price-tags-to-put-isro-ma...

Both Bollywood and Mangalyan are a distraction from the core issues, poverty being one of them. Why do people react to criticism that is inevitable for such a mission? In my opinion, space probe to Mars is a good idea for space engineers and for the idea of adventure, it should be nurtured. But the moment the Indian Government a$$holes (who have eaten up more than 10000X that amount which a Mangalyan costs) and their…

And this is part of working on poverty, in India and everywhere else. Forget all the other reasons. People need inspiration, and this is one way to provide it. The payoff may not be immediate, but it will come.

Re: Mangalyaan, India's Mars Orbiter, has successfully commenced its journey to Mars

#20

Post by TIJ »

I was reading an article somewhere when i came across this stat: that americans have spent 10 times as much as indians have put in this mars probe, i mean how is this possible 10x ratio doesn't seem to be justifying either india is real cheap when it comes to scientific instruments or americans are overspending... and former case doesn't look like a possibility considering that mostly the government companies are manufacturing the spare parts for such missions btw i would like to congratulate the Indians if that stat holds any truth.
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