Train to Pakistan 2004: La, Hore?

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re:#326 by tahmed32
Usually decisions like sending a man to moon is not taken by politicians without the input from the scientific community. This is not a BJP thing though it was announced by BJP. Such ideas are usually floated by the scientific community itself when it sees that it will give them the necessary finances and prestige. There is no jingoism here. This is a 40 year old technology. But it would put India on the space map for sure.
Even China`s attempt to put a space station is nothing novel. It is years behind USA, Russia but then the purpose was to give a boost to its own image. This is the only way forward.
Sridhar

re: Lunar mission by India
Check this out:
(http://www.spacedaily.com/2003/030429012615.mjvka2bc.html

Unmanned moon mission could catapult India to global league: space chief
BANGALORE, India (AFP) Apr 29, 2003
A 78-million-dollar unmanned lunar mission plan seeks to showcase India`s scientific prowess and stake its claim to join a select club for future planetary missions, a top space official said.

``On one side it will quench the scientific curiosity and on the other meet a technological challenge,`` said K. Kasturirangan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

``It should be a quantum jump in terms of our capability,`` he told AFP, adding the mission would enhance India`s status as a potential partner in future space exploration.

``If you look across the world at the pace at which space is growing, the 21st century will certainly witness a tremendous growth in terms of investments for planetary exploration,`` he said.

Kasturirangan said other planets such as Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury would come under scientific investigation.

India`s lunar mission, which is awaiting the government`s nod, will launch a 400 kilogramme (880 pound) satellite into the orbit within the next five years using a locally built polar satellite launch vehicle.

``It will go around the polar orbit about 100 kilometers (62 miles) above the moon,`` Kasturirangan said.

The satellite will probe the physical characteristics of the lunar surface, certain aspects of physical, chemical and ``geochronological aspects`` of the moon, he said.

``It will further add to an overall database which properly modelled could improve our understanding of the origin of moon -- which is still not answered,`` he said.

Kasturirangan said India might scout global markets for small instruments for the satellite.

Critics have said cash-strapped India should not undertake a lunar mission but instead restrict its space programmes to satellite launches and use its funds for social welfare.

They have also warned that undertaking a lunar mission could halt ISRO`s other programmes.

But Kasturirangan dismissed the claims and said India could afford 3.75 billion rupees (78 million dollars) for the mission.

``To continuously harp on the poverty part of it I think is not right simply because this 3.75 billion rupees will not remove poverty as India has a very large budget for poverty alleviation,`` he said.

``India has a very significant ability and there is no reason why we should not demonstrate this ability ... tomorrow we qualify ourselves to participate in international programmes in this area,`` Kasturirangan said.

The plan to undertake a lunar mission was suggested by Indian scientists and backed by aeronautical and astronautical engineers three years ago.

``Technologists, mission specialists found it (a lunar mission) a unique challenge in terms of improving the technology, control guidance and navigation, tracking in terms of mission analysis, deep space network, also building miniaturised sensors,`` Kasturirangan said.

Last year a National Task Force looked into the scientific merits, technological feasibility, financial viability and a reasonable time-frame for the mission and later submitted a report.

Earlier this month senior scientists and policy-makers gathered in Bangalore, the technology hub of India, to further debate the mission.

``The recommendation by and large was that India should undertake this mission,`` Kasturirangan said.

He said the major spin-offs from the programme would include the creation of a new cadre of planetary scientists in India during the next three years.

``It is not an individual`s programme, not an organisation`s programme. It is a programme defined by the community who are interested in the scientific aspects. A programme which has been examined by technologists as being feasible.

``It is a programme which is understood as timely because that is where the international programme is going. And it is a programme which is affordable to a country of this size and resource,`` he said.)
It is not BJP but chairman of ISRO, Kasturirangan who is calling for govt to support the mission. It is obvious that scientists need such and larger missions to sustain themselves and the large community in ISRO.
Sridhar

re: more on the lunar mission
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/08/13/india.moon/

1. (India already has a proven satellite launch vehicle and plans to use a modified version of the same rocket, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), for the lunar shot.


``Our studies clearly indicate that this country has the technical capability to launch this mission and place a satellite in the lunar orbit for carrying out scientific studies,`` George Joseph, head of the lunar mission task force, told the Times.

He added that several ground projects, including the development of a deep space communications network, would have to be set up first for the project to succeed. )

2. (India insists its space program is purely for civilian interests, but defense experts say that developments in Indian rocket technology are also likely to help the military in its goal of producing a homegrown intercontinental ballistic missile.)
Sridhar

Veeresh

great hearing about your trip to Pakistan. Inspires me for one to India, which is the point after all...dont knock it till you try it. All the self imposed experts on Pakistan and India should not speak one word unless they spend time meeting at least one person a month from the other side and a vacation a year in the others country.

Omar R. Quraishi:

Please get a life:). At least take a trip to India if you want to be the India expert.

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rsridhar: While I would be very pleased if Indians had have their sights on the moon and the planets out of a spirit of discovery and human progress, I think the fact is that the BJP government had said something about this only in response to the first chinese astronaut being sent to space (i.e. as a matter of nationalistic chauvinism - the lens through which BJP and too many of your countrymen including veeresh seem to see everything). So, this particular announcement from BJP is hardly anything to write home about.

As a practical matter, of course, the wisdom of putting humans in space when remote controlled devices (extensions of human eyes and years) can do the same with all the attendant simplifications and cost-savings is being questioned. The two robot rovers on mars are, for example, still functioning beautifully after several months on that planet. A human being would have to be protected against all sorts of dangers (much less tolerant to heat and cold than the robots; cosmic rays of all kinds; the need for food and drink and air; the list goes on).

As for Pakistan, no doubt we took a wrong turn when our military men got into bed with the half-brained pups of the devil himself (i.e. the terrorists). But now that the pups are snipping at their military heels, I think it is a question of time before this problem disappears. But basically I agree with you - mullah terrorists are the number one problem for pakistan today and for the world.

kkandk: I remember there used to be a Rs. 50 fine for pulling the chain on railways. Since Veeresh has admitted (indeed, proudly claimed) to have pulled the chain, clearly he needs to be fined Rs. 50.

We should also fine him for making false representations, undue argumentation, and for willful violations of common sense. That adds up to another Rs. 50,000 fine. Veeresh to please put check in the mail and then pull chain.

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re: #319 by tahmed32
``the rest of the world watches in awe as india prepares to send a man to the moon - with special jet powered one toe chappals``
Dude,
Do u doubt India can send a man to moon? I think it now has the technology. Anyway, at least Indians are looking up towards the moon.
What are the Pakis looking at? Down at the bottom of a pit or at their own rear ends?
The only thing coming out of Pak now-a-days is the stink of terrorism.
Sridhar