Time
India Races To Space With a Mission to Mars
India aims to join an elite group of nations to reach the Red Planet, and
at a fraction of the cost
By _Nilanjana Bhowmick / New Delhi_
(http://world.time.com/author/nilanjanabhowmick/) Nov. 05, 2013
_India_ (http://topics.time.com/india/) launched its first unmanned
mission to _Mars_
(http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/scripts/pressreleasein.aspx?Oct22_2013) on
Tuesday as it tries to join a select group of countries that
have managed to land spacecraft on the Red Planet. As the rocket sped off
towards space from Sriharikota, a small island near Chennai in the southern
part of the country, it was a huge boost for the _Indian Space Research
Organization (ISRO)_ (http://www.isro.org/) , which started in the 1960s with
a local church as its main office, a converted bishop’s house as its
workshop and a cowshed as its laboratory. The organization launched India’s
first rocket from the middle of a coconut plantation in the southern state of
Kerala in 1963.
Tuesday’s launch is just the first stage of Mangalyaan, as the mission has
been named. The 1,350-kilogram orbiter will travel 780 million kilometers
before reaching the Red Planet in September next year. “The biggest
challenge will be precisely navigating the space craft to _Mars_
(http://topics.time.com/mars/) ,” K. Radhakrishnan, chairman of the Indian
space agency,
_told the AP_
(http://www.fox19.com/story/23876583/india-launches-first-mission-to-mars) .
“We will know if we pass our examination on Sept. 24, 2014.”
If it succeeds in reaching the surface, the Mars vehicle will probe the
Red Planet for signs of life and test equipment for deep-space travel. India’s
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called Mangalyaan a huge step for India in
the area of science and technology when he announced the mission from the
parapets of the historic Red Fort – the seat of Mughal power – during his
Independence Day speech in 2012.
India’s Mars mission took fifteen months to complete at a cost of $74
million, the _cheapest Mars mission_
(http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/slideshows/science-technology/why-isros-mars-mission-is-the-cheapest/isros-mars-mis
sion-the-cheapest/slideshow/24982329.cms) yet attempted. According to a
_tally_ (http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/programmissions/missions/log/) by the
United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (_NASA_
(http://topics.time.com/nasa/) ), there have been 40 missions to Mars by the
U.S.,
Russia and the European Union, of which 18 succeeded. China attempted to send
a space probe to Mars in 2011, but the craft failed to exit Earth’s orbit. “
At least by NASA’s standards, the total mission cost is very low,” David
Paige, professor of Planetary Science at the University of California, Los
Angeles told TIME. “If India can be successful with this mission, it will
open up new opportunities for more frequent low-cost Mars missions.”
One of NASA’s upcoming missions, MAVEN, which will be launched later this
month, took five years and $679 million to build, a stark contrast with
Mangalyaan in terms of time and money. “The global community is really excited
about the low cost of this mission as nobody has billions of dollars lying
around for planetary exploration,” says Pallava Bagla science editor at
Indian television channel NDTV and author of _Destination Moon: India’s Quest
for Moon, Mars and Beyond_
(http://books.google.com/books/about/Destination_Moon.html?id=UkRMPgAACAAJ) .
India’s space program has always been something of a trailblazer despite
its limited resources. The program has focused on what has been called
people-centric applications. Its first step towards planetary exploration came
only in 2008, when it sent an $89 million mission to the moon.
But critics have argued against the Mars mission, insisting that India
should instead be diverting the millions towards social programs. Jean Drèze,
a Belgian development economist, told the Financial Times last year, “I don’
t understand the importance of India sending a space mission to Mars when
half of its children are undernourished and half of all Indian families
have no access to sanitation.”
Supporters counter that all Indians will ultimately benefit from the
technological advances space exploration could produce. “The technology
developed from such cutting-edge space exploration will ultimately trickle
down to
benefit the common man,” says Radhakrishnan.
Perhaps the best example of that so far may be how the country prepared for
Cyclone Phailin, a powerful tropical storm that struck India in October.
High-tech satellites and Doppler Radars along the coast of the Bay of Bengal
gave early warnings, allowing for the evacuation of hundreds of thousands
of people from low-lying areas. Less than 50 were reported killed by
Phailin, while similar storms in the past wreaked unimaginable devastation. In
1999, the cyclone Orissa killed more than 10,000 people.
“Having a state-of-the art fleet of Earth-observation and telecommunication
satellites for a subcontinent like India is a necessity, not a luxury,”
says Susmita Mohanty, CEO of _Earth2orbit_ (http://www.earth2orbit.com/) ,
India’s first private space start-up. “As a nation, not only should we
ensure food, shelter, education, jobs, healthcare and good public transport
for
our masses, but also give them a reason to dream, to dare, to explore, to
reach for the stars.”
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