The United States couldn't do it on its first
try. Neither could the Soviets.
In true underdog fashion,
India launched its ultra-budget spacecraft and bested the Americans and
Europeans by becoming the first nation to succeed in sending a spacecraft into
Mars' orbit on its initial attempt.
Twenty-four hours into
India's entry into the elite space club, the Mars Orbiter Mission, also known
as Mangalyaan, is circling the Red Planet and sending back data and photos to
the command center.
Here are five things to
know about the latest Mars darling:
1. How India kept
its Mars mission costs low
The much-repeated phrase
is that the Mars Orbiter Mission at $74 million cost less than the $100 million
budget for the Hollywood space thriller "Gravity."
At least
"Gravity" earned a few Academy Awards.
India's Mars mission
actually cost a lot less than most of this year's Hollywood summer flops --
some of which you probably don't remember. For example, the budget for Tom
Cruise's flick "Edge of Tomorrow" could have funded two India Mars
mission with its whopping $178 million budget.
India has built a
reputation for its frugal innovations.
CNNMoney
explains that the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was able to
save money by using short development cycles and taking advantage of India's
cheap labor market.
For example,
highly-skilled aerospace engineers in India might receive a salary of $1,000
per month, a fraction of what they could earn in Europe or the U.S.
2. How quickly
the Mars mission was pulled together
India's then-Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh announced India's Mars aspiration in August 2012.
In a rapid turnaround,
the ISRO worked at breakneck speed to engineer, assemble and launch the Mars
Orbiter. By November 2013, it launched from Chennai and 10 months later, it
reached Mars' orbit to inspire a nation.
From announcement to
execution, the Mars mission took India's space agency two years and one month.
In comparison, NASA's
MAVEN was announced in September 2008, and reached the planet's orbit earlier this
week -- taking six years.
In a Forbes interview from 2013, ISRO Chairman Dr. K.
Radhakrishnan said that India's space scientists commonly work 18-hour days and
even 20-hour days during launch period, which made them more time and cost
effective.
3. The purpose of
India's space mission
The Mars spacecraft will
orbit the Red Planet, mapping its surface and studying the atmosphere. The
observation has already begun using its scientific instruments, according to
ISRO.
For much of its 50-year
history, India's space program has prioritized developing technological
capacity to help its population, such as improving its telecommunications
infrastructure and environmental monitoring with satellites.
India's space program
launched its first Earth satellite in 1975 and put an unmanned probe into orbit
around the Moon in 2008.
4. It's winning
the Internet
These days, if your
spacecraft doesn't have a social account with a quirky personality, it might as
well not exist.
The Mars Orbiter's new
Twitter account casually greeted NASA's Mars Curiosity, "Howdy... Keep in
touch."
It joined an elite club
of recent space darlings like NASA's Curiosity and China's defunct Moon rover
Jade Rabbit, whose popularity soared due to a blend of cheeky and scientific
social media posts.
5. It's not
without controversy
In a country where one in
three people lacks basic amenities like electricity, not all could cheer
India's interplanetary aspirations.
The statistics are
sobering: one out of three malnourished children in the world lives in India.
It faces development, poverty, education and gender challenges. Some critics
have said that India should channel its funds into helping people here on
Earth.
And another criticism is
that one of Earth's biggest environmental offenders has ignored the costs to
the planet to go explore another.
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