After the past few days filled with tensed expectations and crossed fingers when Chandrayaan-1 reached it's final orbit yesterday it left a sudden void in me on the earth. The practice of looking into my RSS feeds every morning before getting out of bed had started to become a pleasant habit. Today not expecting any deadline being met made the morning a tad dull.
Of course as the day is drawing to an end here on the eastern coast of USA the anticipation starts to build once again. Tomorrow is 14-Nov, possibly the day when the MIP could be launched.
The early editions are already abuzz with how the Tricolor has a date with the moon tonight. The pulse quickens at the mere thought! A wave of envy sweeps through me at the thought of all the engineers who worked this project relentlessly over the past several years. It's fitting that they all be recognized for this unreproducible feat.
The WWW has already started chattering about would-be Chandrayaan-II in 2012. Will it have the same coverage and bated breath as the first attempt did. Or will the natural human instinct bear contempt for the then more familiar phenomenon. As always, only time will tell.
Going back over the past few days there were quite some discussions about whether the costs incurred for Chandrayaan-1 are justified for India; a country where the obvious poverty is horrifying, the illiteracy is appalling and terrorism and corruption have crippled most of the remaining social fiber. What justifies that such glorified attempts be made to reach the moon?
This can easily be countered by asking what justifies that the present condition of the country be used an excuse to curb the quest for progress and knowledge? Shouldn't the very conditions that seem to appear as hurdles in fact be the catalysts for development? How otherwise shall India get the self-confidence to be sure of what she does. Not doing anything is the worst thing India can do. Taking care of its populace does not mean not attempting progress. I find it difficult to accept that there could be anyone among the poor of India who would deride this achievement as a wasteful attempt. As Indians, be what may, we do have that sense of patriotism to uphold the greatness of our motherland's achievements. While we all want and need the basic necessities of life we are not ones to cry foul when told that our country has attempted something that we couldn’t have imagined few generations ago.
This spirit of progress is what keeps up our hope and faith.
Here let me mention an article I found on IBN live few days ago. It discussed the apparent wastefulness of the Chandrayaan-1 mission.
In reading it though a new picture emerged of the entire idea of "wastefulness" :-) If we pause to consider that the entire mission cost only a mere fraction of what a single plane costs, can we dare imagine the implications it will have on the total economics of space study! I read here Chandrayaan-1 cost just a third of the Chinese Chang'e-1 and around a sixth of the Japanese Selene last year. Only three per cent of total budget of ISRO for three years has been used for this first successful attempt!
If ISRO can leverage on it's reduced cost methods even the sky would not hold any imit : -) ISRO (and India) has made a mark for itself in the commercial arena of space exploration. Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of Department of Space already has several commercial space services. As per this article ISRO earned more than $3 million last year selling its commercial services. If they play the turf well there is a market of almost $200 million waiting to be captured.
Of course, this also means the undivided support from the average Indian. After all the Rs.900 crore revenue Antrix earned is no mean feat!
To end, here is an editorial from The Hindu that makes for some fine introspective reading.
Of course as the day is drawing to an end here on the eastern coast of USA the anticipation starts to build once again. Tomorrow is 14-Nov, possibly the day when the MIP could be launched.
The early editions are already abuzz with how the Tricolor has a date with the moon tonight. The pulse quickens at the mere thought! A wave of envy sweeps through me at the thought of all the engineers who worked this project relentlessly over the past several years. It's fitting that they all be recognized for this unreproducible feat.
The WWW has already started chattering about would-be Chandrayaan-II in 2012. Will it have the same coverage and bated breath as the first attempt did. Or will the natural human instinct bear contempt for the then more familiar phenomenon. As always, only time will tell.
Going back over the past few days there were quite some discussions about whether the costs incurred for Chandrayaan-1 are justified for India; a country where the obvious poverty is horrifying, the illiteracy is appalling and terrorism and corruption have crippled most of the remaining social fiber. What justifies that such glorified attempts be made to reach the moon?
This can easily be countered by asking what justifies that the present condition of the country be used an excuse to curb the quest for progress and knowledge? Shouldn't the very conditions that seem to appear as hurdles in fact be the catalysts for development? How otherwise shall India get the self-confidence to be sure of what she does. Not doing anything is the worst thing India can do. Taking care of its populace does not mean not attempting progress. I find it difficult to accept that there could be anyone among the poor of India who would deride this achievement as a wasteful attempt. As Indians, be what may, we do have that sense of patriotism to uphold the greatness of our motherland's achievements. While we all want and need the basic necessities of life we are not ones to cry foul when told that our country has attempted something that we couldn’t have imagined few generations ago.
This spirit of progress is what keeps up our hope and faith.
Here let me mention an article I found on IBN live few days ago. It discussed the apparent wastefulness of the Chandrayaan-1 mission.
In reading it though a new picture emerged of the entire idea of "wastefulness" :-) If we pause to consider that the entire mission cost only a mere fraction of what a single plane costs, can we dare imagine the implications it will have on the total economics of space study! I read here Chandrayaan-1 cost just a third of the Chinese Chang'e-1 and around a sixth of the Japanese Selene last year. Only three per cent of total budget of ISRO for three years has been used for this first successful attempt!
If ISRO can leverage on it's reduced cost methods even the sky would not hold any imit : -) ISRO (and India) has made a mark for itself in the commercial arena of space exploration. Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of Department of Space already has several commercial space services. As per this article ISRO earned more than $3 million last year selling its commercial services. If they play the turf well there is a market of almost $200 million waiting to be captured.
Of course, this also means the undivided support from the average Indian. After all the Rs.900 crore revenue Antrix earned is no mean feat!
To end, here is an editorial from The Hindu that makes for some fine introspective reading.
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