let’s celebrate, and not needlessly crib
The successful launch of India's first spacecraft to Mars, Mangalyaan, is a huge achievement for the Indian Space Research Organisation and a matter of tremendous pride for the country. It ushers India into an elite club of deep-space pioneers — the US, Russia and the European Union — who have tasted a measure of success in sending out probes to the Red Planet. As the 44.4m Polar Satellite launch Vehicle-C25 carrying the Mars orbiter in its head, lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on Tuesday, it marked the beginning of a 300-day, 780 million kilometre long journey to orbit Mars, where, if all goes according to plan, the craft will survey the planet's geology and atmosphere. The lift-off was just the first of three phases — next month, the orbiter is expected to break out of Earth's orbit, and then somewhere in September 2014, it should enter the Martian orbit. Undoubtedly, the road ahead is a challenging one, especially when one considers that no other country has succeeded in its mission to Mars in the first attempt. We hope that Mangalyaan is able to fulfil its mandate this time itself, but the fact that even technologically-advanced countries like China (in 2011) and Japan (in 2009) have failed, is a sobering thought. We must keep our fingers crossed.
One of the criticisms of Mangalyaan is that it was launched on a Polar Satellite launch Vehicle instead of the more advanced Geosynchronous Satellite launch Vehicle. The latter has failed twice in previous launch tests in 2010 and many believe that ISRO has made a mistake by rushing into the mission with the PSlV. But the space organisation has strongly defended its decision to not wait for a new batch of rockets as that would have delayed the project by three years. Others from the scientific community, including some senior people previously associated with ISRO, have also disapproved of the project's overall aims, saying that they are vague and will not in anyway further national priorities.
But while informed criticisms cannot be wished away, what deserves to be summarily rubbished is the argument that a nation which has failed to provide even basic amentities to its people, cannot afford to spend enormous amounts of money on exploring space. Such an assertion is flawed on many counts. First, just because some departments have failed to do their job does not mean that others should be penalised. Second, contrary to what rhetorical critics have claimed, the Mangalyaan does not carry a huge price tag. At just Rs 4.5 billion, it is a budget programme. Not only is it a fraction of the money that other countries spend on space exploration, it is also far less than what some of the Government's flagship and shoddily implemented poverty alleviation schemes cost the national exchequer. Second, the ‘space programme versus social welfare’ debate is a rehash of the old ‘guns and butter’ debate that has long been junked. Finally, the assumption that space exploration does not deliver benefits to the common man, is incorrect. Space research has given us technologies that have improved everyday life — predicting weather and natural calamities. These were, for instance, used to save lives during cyclone Phailin.