
ISRO Mars Orbiter Mission: Spacecraft successfully enters Martian Orbit - skbohra123
http://isro.gov.in/mars/updates.aspx
======
noisy_boy
People who keep making the (nonsense) point of space vs. better roads keep
harping on how the money will be better spent on infrastructure.

I looked up the Indian planning commission's budget for 2013-14 road
development. Planning Commission provided an annual outlay of Rs.37,300.00
Crore for 2013-2014 for development in road sector[1]. That is more than 6
billion USD - just for improving roads, for a year.

The budget of the Mars Orbiter mission was around 75 million USD[2] i.e. less
than 1.5% of [1].

[1]:
[http://www.performance.gov.in/sites/default/files/department...](http://www.performance.gov.in/sites/default/files/departments/road-
transport/2013-14.pdf)

[2]: [http://www.forbes.com/sites/saritharai/2013/11/07/how-
indias...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/saritharai/2013/11/07/how-indias-isro-
launched-its-mars-mission-at-cut-rate-costs/)

~~~
shiven
Thanks for providing some "hard data" and backing it up with references!

It always irks me when people make such armchair-social-economist claims
(which IMO, are ultimately only populism driven).

As to ISRO: you've made me feel proud to be an Indian! _Ad Astra!!!_

~~~
Arjuna
_As to ISRO: you 've made me feel proud to be an Indian!_

I'm "sort of" Indian... by way of marriage ;)

I get really excited when rockets go up, by generally spending too much time
on telemetry [1]. I have been excited about this mission as well; admittedly,
I can't help but feel a little emotional about it.

I think your sentiment will be echoed across India, in the sense that it
brings science, technology and astro-dynamics even further to the forefront.
It will kindle a fire in young people to look even more toward understanding
and exploring these fields.

Regarding the mission, I thought it was interesting how Amul (a dairy company
in India) used their "Amul Baby" in this little congratulatory ad [2]. The
words are transliterated from Hindi. It basically translates to, "ISRO eat!
This Mars thing is pretty cool!" इसरो खाओ! यह चीज़ बड़ी है मस्त मार्स! (Native
speakers: please forgive me if I'm not quite right, and correct me if so.)

Along those lines, the kid in me wishes we could see rockets showing up on
cereal boxes, with blazing exhaust plumes, launch telemetry and explanations
of how events must be planned in order to reach their precise window of
opportunity in space.

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7609781](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7609781)

[2] [http://s4.firstpost.in/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/amul-
mars....](http://s4.firstpost.in/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/amul-mars.jpg)

Edit: Thank you _viksit_ and _vkjsub_ for the linguistic details. I didn't
realize the "pun" with regard to इसरो and इसे रोज़ खाओ until it was explained!

~~~
viksit
Kudos on finding that - it's very well done! To clarify what it means,

"ISE ROZ KHAO"

That's a pun on ISRO as well as the phrase "Ise Roz", which means "This
daily". Khao means "To eat". Ultimately - it translates to "Eat this daily".

"Yeh cheez badi hai mast mars" is actually another reference to not just the
term "cheese", which is of course its bread and butter business (no pun
intended), but also the fact that those are the lyrics to a very suggestive,
infamous and controversial song from the early 90s which compared to the
attention 'Twerking'received a couple of years ago.

------
sidcool
I remember when in 2012, the then PM of India had declared this project. The
entire internet community came together to deride this, saying it's not
possible in a couple of years and that India had better feed its hungry etc.

I am a very proud Indian today. This achievement, like other by humanity (LHC
in particular), will encourage me to push myself towards greatness.

~~~
hypertexthero
> “When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European,
> or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent?
> Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you
> separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds
> violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to
> any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he
> is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.”

― Jiddu Krishnamurti, [Freedom From the Known, Chapter 6][freedom]

[freedom]: [http://www.jkrishnamurti.org/krishnamurti-teachings/view-
tex...](http://www.jkrishnamurti.org/krishnamurti-teachings/view-
text.php?tid=48&chid=56789)

~~~
segmondy
Please, stop with the philosophical garbage. I'm not Indian, but I'm proud of
them and very happy for them. We at Hacker News tend to call ourselves
hackers, programmers, techies, entrepreneurs, geeks, etc. Are we also being
violent?

~~~
gambiting
You can choose to become a programmer, but you can't choose to be born Indian.
I imagine you would take offence if I said I am proud to be white? If people
keep saying they are proud because of things they didn't choose, then that
breeds social differences.

------
suprgeek
What is even more commendable is that it was done pretty cheaply [1]. Granted
the capabilities of some of the other craft are different - but not THAT
different. Add to this the fact that this was a success in the first shot -
getting a craft from the Earth to to Mars Orbit correctly in one shot on a
meager budget is indeed a stunning success for ISRO.

[1]
[https://twitter.com/WSJIndia/status/514591179363864578/photo...](https://twitter.com/WSJIndia/status/514591179363864578/photo/1)

~~~
fragsworth
It cost them $74 million. I'm going to predict it now - in about 10-20 years,
wealthy hobbyists will be sending probes to other planets, eventually creating
a worldwide community of amateur planet probers.

~~~
dtparr
Unless it somehow advances to the point of being foolproof, that seems a
little worrying from a Kessler syndrome standpoint.

~~~
adrianN
With my limited understanding of orbital mechanics, it seems pretty hard to
get something into a stable orbit around earth, especially if you're aiming
for Mars. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

~~~
wcoenen
I think interplanetary missions usually start by reaching low earth orbit, and
only then burning at the right time to start the interplanetary transfer. So
getting stuck in LEO is not that unlikely.

For example, the Russian Fobos-Grunt[1] mars mission got stranded in LEO.
Though indeed not in a stable orbit; it did re-enter and burn up two months
later.

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fobos-
Grunt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fobos-Grunt)

------
swatkat
MOM spacecraft was launched last year (5th Nov 2013) and today it entered into
Martian orbit. Here's the twitter handle of spacecraft:
[https://twitter.com/MarsOrbiter](https://twitter.com/MarsOrbiter)

Mars Orbit Insertion was covered live on ISRO webcast
([http://webcast.isro.gov.in/](http://webcast.isro.gov.in/)), Doordarshan
National TV and other channels. Here's the complete coverage of MOI:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZL_Vwy0JqI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZL_Vwy0JqI)

MOI sequence of events:
[http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mom/status.html](http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mom/status.html)

MOM carries five scientific payloads:
[http://www.isro.org/mars/payload.aspx](http://www.isro.org/mars/payload.aspx)

Expecting first set of colour pictures from MOM by today evening (IST) :)

~~~
adityab
And it's already getting friendly with the Curiosity Rover. ;-)

[https://twitter.com/MarsOrbiter/status/514618412417302528](https://twitter.com/MarsOrbiter/status/514618412417302528)

------
realrocker
Not only did Mom reach Mars, she also got a pretty good bargain on it. So
Indian :)

~~~
adityab
My Mom is an engineer working at ISRO designing satellite components and this
line totally fits!

She's vacationing so I just called and gave her the good news. :-D

~~~
chatman
Please convey my salute to her! She made me a proud Indian today.

------
SoulMan
Given that HN is a more intellectual and educated group and there are no one
here who is criticizing about the money spent . But the were skeptics who did
criticize initially . It basically represents the sample of the population who
probably never understood the meaning of space exploration. Most of them are
partially educated or educated with a faulty system. It does not just apply to
India, there are people sitting in US congress who thinks NASA is waste of
money. Same people would have blamed ISRO for INSAT , GSLV & PSLV back in the
days where there were bunch of satellite already doing the similar work. Its
only because of those ISRO efforts today we have own geo-censing and satellite
communication without having to buy from external agencies or compromise our
security .

~~~
7952

      INSAT = The Indian National Satellite System
      GSLV  = Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle
      PSLV = Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle

------
pdevr
Twitter handle of ISRO's Mars Orbiter:
[https://twitter.com/MarsOrbiter](https://twitter.com/MarsOrbiter)

First tweet: "What is red, is a planet and is the focus of my orbit?"

~~~
cscurmudgeon
ISRO is awesome. :D

------
gordon_freeman
Great news for India's space program especially considering INR4.54 billion
(US$74 million) cost for an interplanetary mission like this, it should be a
crash course in frugal space engineering. I really believe ISRO can form a
close partnership with NASA in future to launch supply to ISS and much more.

~~~
swatkat
Yes. Chandrayaan-2 (second Moon mission) consisting of a lander and rover is
already in the works. Also, with the qualification of GSLV Mk3 medium-heavy
lift vehicle and re-entry capsules[1], ISRO would be able to contribute more
to "space transportation" missions.

[1]
[http://www.isro.org/rep2014/STS.html](http://www.isro.org/rep2014/STS.html)

~~~
gordon_freeman
True. I do believe that by doing close collaboration with NASA, ESA etc. India
can help accelerate space missions all over the world. It will certainly be a
win-win partnership because these Space agencies will save lots of money and
India will gain expertise in executing complex missions.

------
corford
Successful Mars orbit for 0.42% of the price Facebook paid for Whatsapp.

Awesome job and glad ISRO doesn't seem to suffer from the same bad luck the
Russians do when it comes to Mars!

------
vs4vijay
Hollywood movie Gravity costs more than this space mission.

~~~
vs4vijay
ISRO's Mars mission is the cheapest so far, just 450 crore i.e Rs 12 per km,
equivalent to Auto fare .Truly Indian

~~~
sean_the_geek
T-h-a-t is awesome if it is true. Soon spacex will outsource satellite
building to india as well :P

~~~
mirchibajji
Auto fare may be a bit more, because they charge 1.5 times the metered cost
when running at night :P

------
zkirill
It is so incredibly inspiring to listen to a PM speak about space, science,
research and exploration for more than an hour. Does anyone know if this is
broadcast on Indian national TV?

~~~
beenpoor
I felt mixed about his speech (I listened to it fully). I think it lacked bit
of finesse considering it was addressed to country's eminent scientists. But
then, perhaps therein lies his genuineness.

------
roywiggins
This is massively inspiring. Huge PR boon for India, and they obviously
deserve it.

Super happy about this. Welcome to the interplanetary club!

------
nitin_flanker
I really want that people around the world should stop saying that this is a
cheap mission. Instead you can say that this one is economical mission.

Saying it cheap is derogatory remark. ISRO was thrifty while spending funds on
this mission.

~~~
rhino42
NASA actually had a rather successful program called "better, faster, cheaper"
where we cut back on testing rigour in exchange for 1/2 - 1/3 mission cost

[http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/archive/2012/April/Pa...](http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/archive/2012/April/Pages/Faster,Better,CheaperWhyNotPickAllThree.aspx)

------
akbarnama
Some good information here -

[http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-
youngwor...](http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-
youngworld/four-things-to-know-about-mom/article5365325.ece)

[http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/journey-to-the-
red-...](http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/journey-to-the-red-
planet/article6429902.ece?homepage=true&ref=relatedNews)

------
bharath28
Respect. For sheer aplomb & perseverance. It is moments like these that make
me want to put my head down and march on no matter what.

------
r0muald
I didn't see anyone compare this success at first attempt with the (partial)
failure of Jade Rabbit
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7226307](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7226307)
however that seems a more interesting comparison between newcomers to space
exploration rather than, say, NASA missions.

------
girvo
What an amazing achievement! And what a retro looking website! Congrats to the
team, this is something to be proud of.

------
alphakappa
The odds were against them, and yet they managed to pull this off on the first
try. Congratulations ISRO! [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-
india-29307123](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-29307123)

------
andystannard
Amazing well done! Sounds like they chose very wisely the scope of the mission
and came up with a useful goal that they could archive with the limited
resources. Lets hope they get some useful data from the methane detector

------
chdir
Previous discussion on the budget :
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7964261](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7964261)

------
nmridul
Title should be "India's mars orbiter ..... "

------
skbohra123
Webcast of the event can be seen here
[http://webcast.isro.gov.in/](http://webcast.isro.gov.in/)

------
lmm
Does anyone maintain an up-to-date version of the Mars Scorecard? What's
Earth's average for this decade?

------
return0
I 'm surprised it's not discussed here ... but the ones who should be worried
here is SpaceX, not NASA.

------
mukundmr
I hope events like this will help rekindle the interest in science and that
ISRO gets a budget boost.

------
murukesh_s
NASA - Do you want to Outsource? ;-)

~~~
alokdhari
I am sure they eventually would. If not NASA, then other countries would
definitely do so.

~~~
pavanky
Chandrayaan contained payloads from NASA and ESA already. PSLV has sucessfully
launched satellites from various countries.

It has already begun.

------
silver1
more on this is here:

[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-creates-
histo...](http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-creates-history-
keeps-date-with-Mars/articleshow/43296484.cms)

------
jamesmalvi
Proud to be indian.. Well Done India... I hope we get the best out of this
trip

------
gude
That's one giant interplanetary leap for India

------
bane
Absolutely amazing, congratulations India!

------
pranayairan
Awesome achievement, go go go.

------
kamakazizuru
cue haters talking about lack of toilets/education/too much rape/other random
social issue that exists in India they heard about that one time in the news -
and how India should fix that instead of developing technology...in
5..4..3..2..1

------
shashikant52004
Congrats team india!!!

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jpatel3
Its a proud moment!

------
gauthamilango
Congrats ISRO!!!!!

------
nagarch
Simply Amazing...

------
vivekchand19
Congrats ISRO :)

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arc_of_descent
Congratulations!

------
prithvitheprime
It was lowest priced spacecraft ever sent to Mars; Congrats India (big move on
creating low priced space shuttles)

------
kjs3
Congrats, India. Welcome to the club. Hopefully you'll have many more
successes.

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digifire
I just wish ISRO was a privately held like spacex and giving it a run for its
money. You would get the students in India really inspired to learn real
engineering.

------
general_failure
Congrats India!

In other news, [http://isro.gov.in/](http://isro.gov.in/) has a <blink> tag :)
Some parts of ISRO aren't catching up with technology :))

------
jacko0
Well Done! But $74 Million could have been spent giving toilets to Indians, so
that don't have to shit in the streets.

~~~
Cthulhu_
Well Done! But the $700 billion US defense budget could have been spent giving
basic health care to Americans, so that don't have to go bankrupt whenever
they fall ill.

[/comparison]

~~~
ranran876
Both statements ring true... what's your point?

------
seesomesense
Good practice for ICBM development.

India's current IRBMs can target all of China. The goal is to be able to
target all of the mainland United States.

