India sending probe to the Moon by 2008

[Mr. Anderson]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/08/15/india.moon.reut/index.html

Sounds great - yet for such a poor nation, it really makes you question why. Sure, prestige is nice, but that won't feed the hungry.

Even though there is a significant difference between India and the US, the problems of managing money spent on these sorts of projects become difficult to justify in both counties (ISS)

I'm all for space exploration, but sometimes evaluating the cost of these endeavors requires more than feeling good about what you're doing and actually getting something done.

For the US, a manned mission to Mars might be pretty much the same thing as as India's bid to get to the moon with a probe.

D

[bennetsaysargh]

i think this is one of the first instances where i am confused why they are going to send a probe into space. they are a poor country with toms of people starving. i don't get it. why spend the money and go to the moon when you can feed the hungry?

[MacViolinist]

While I admit that this is probably not the case, one could argue that simply the process of building the probe, and the foreign investment necessary for the launch as a whole would in one way or another create jobs, and possibly obtain improved infrastructure on someone else's dime, and therefore improve the economy/standard-of-living at least for a few. Therefor it should be given top priority. I could see some beaurocrat arguing that and winning.

[Mac til death]

I don't know why they are interested in sending the probe other than to find out if the U.S. actually landed on the moon. ;)

Maybe they are using this as a cover to develop missle technology to deliver their nuclear weapons. It will be interesting to see if Pakistan starts a "Space Program".

[rainman::|:|]

Originally posted by MacViolinist
While I admit that this is probably not the case, one could argue that simply the process of building the probe, and the foreign investment necessary for the launch as a whole would in one way or another create jobs, and possibly obtain improved infrastructure on someone else's dime, and therefore improve the economy/standard-of-living at least for a few. Therefor it should be given top priority. I could see some beaurocrat arguing that and winning.

Exactly. Feeding the hungry will be a very short-term solution; programs like this are a much-needed investment in the country's future. Part of their problem is that they don't have these industries. But I too question a moon probe... But, gotta start somewhere... i guess...

pnw

[irmongoose]

Okay. India has lots of poor, starving people. That is what India should concentrate on first before doing anything else, yes. But, India is not a poor country. In fact, it is the 11th richest country in the world.

Just wanted to get the facts straight.




irmongoose

[rainman::|:|]

Originally posted by irmongoose
Okay. India has lots of poor, starving people. That is what India should concentrate on first before doing anything else, yes. But, India is not a poor country. In fact, it is the 11th richest country in the world.

Just wanted to get the facts straight.

irmongoose

Is that per capita? Just curious--

pnw

[irmongoose]

Originally posted by paulwhannel
Is that per capita? Just curious--

pnw

No. See, I know the real way of counting a country's wealth is by per capita. But India is a corrupt country - we have both extremes. Very rich and very poor. By 11th richest in the world, it means the government is the 11th richest. It surely is not right, and shouldn't be that way, but it is. A big chunk of the population might be poor, but the country is not.



irmongoose

[ashish100]

i recently read that
a) india tripled its middle class in the last 20 years (now around 300 million plus)
b) the middle class is expected to be 50% of the population in a generation

ash

[wdlove]

Originally posted by irmongoose
Okay. India has lots of poor, starving people. That is what India should concentrate on first before doing anything else, yes. But, India is not a poor country. In fact, it is the 11th richest country in the world.

Just wanted to get the facts straight.

irmongoose

That is really a very interesting statistic irmongoose. It's just too bad that it is the government that has the wealth instead of the people. They definitely should concentrate on raising the standard of living of all citizens. Do they have a middle class?

[ashish100]

erghh? yes, and um, estimated to be between 250-300 million.

india is not a 'poor' poor country. its army/navy/air force are pretty large (top 4-5) and IT speaks for itself.

plenty of development, and with a growth rate of 4-7% (compare: US 2.5%) the second faster growing nation, after china (im pretty sure thats correct)

[themadchemist]

India is certainly not a poor nation, but a developing one. Unfortunately, its rate of of economic development has accelerated far more slowly than that of China, but it is certainly in the positives.

As Ashish pointed out, the IT is tremendous--outsourcing for both tech support and programming come into India from all around the world.

FDIs are rapidly increasing.

But I guess this isn't the point of the thread. The question is, why would India want to launch a probe to the Moon?

Well, it probably has nothing to do with pragmatic concerns. A probe to the moon is not going to clear up the AIDS epidemic nor is it going to help feed the millions of homeless individuals in India's cities. The peasants of the countryside will not benefit from this technological feat, either.

But Vajpayee's (the prime minister) government has long been very interested in the augment of patriotism in the country. National pride and belonging, in fact, are vastly important to most Indians, which is why the nuclear testing we saw with Pokran and Agni in the late 90s was so politically potent.

To launch this probe to the moon would be making a statement to India's people of the strength of their nation. It would be making a statement to India's several foes (who embody, in the worst way, the concept of keeping one's enemies closest) including Pakistan and China, that India's technological capability would render it the victor in any sort of military engagment. To the world, the successful launch of this probe would symbolize the tremendous technological capabilities that India definitely does have.

Unfortunately, this motivation would sieze more votes than that of improved health care. A month ago, Vajpayee, when he assented to the fact that AIDS is becoming a problem in India, stated that the country needed to make health care a top priority. But he also admitted that unfortunately, health care is not an issue that makes or breaks elections as it is in other countries, especially in the West.

India's motivation, though, is not inscrutable. This is actually somewhat a predictable move, esp. in light of the new President's (president, though is mainly a symbolic role) emphasis on his vision of an industrialized, developed India by 2020. He won with 91% of the vote, by the way.

Hopefully, a part of the vision of a developed India will be better health care and health education for all. We can only wait and see what the government will do. India is a great nation with great potential, but it is an indisputable fact that my mother land has made a very half-hearted, lukewarm effort in the area of health care.

[irmongoose]

themadchemist: You hit the ball there. Exactly what it's all about.



irmongoose

[pseudobrit]

It's not like the US doesn't (and didn't when it was sending men to the moon) have problems here on Earth, too, but rarely do you hear people say that we should have spent more on Appalachian infrastructure instead of Apollo.

This kind of second guessing of exploration would still have us thinking the world was rather smaller than we now know.