
India Plans to Launch Moon Mission in July - adventured
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-12/india-to-launch-moon-mission-in-july-eyes-entry-into-elite-club
======
giis
Before some western-media starts their well known statement like "India is a
poor country and they need to focus on their healthcare, education etc before
wasting money on Space projects like this".

They need to examine themselves, "Have we ever said above statement when our
country lobbying for multi-million/billion dollar defence deals from India?"

~~~
dev_north_east
I have no problem with India doing whatever it wants and prioritising certain
things above others. I do object to my taxes funding foreign aid to a country
that have a well developed nuke program, a big military and a burgeoning space
industry. Good for them but not with my money thanks.

~~~
Tepix
If a poor country spends all its money feeding its citizens chances are it
will stay poor.

If they invest in the future chances are there will be better jobs in the
future and less hungry people.

~~~
dev_north_east
Yeah I don't see what that has to do with my comment. I don't want my taxes
sent to subsidise their space industry, nuke program or military. Not a big
ask really.

------
bmurali3
India has to push on all fronts. Increasing momentum in tech advancements is
especially important. Focusing only on poverty/water scarcity/culture would be
narrow minded.

Besides, I can't imagine how exhilarating it will be for the engineers
actually working towards this. I'm sure engineers here will relate with the
need to "implement it themselves" when trying to understand or build
confidence in a particular area/concept. It does not matter that it has been
done before. Why should it just be for acknowledgement from other countries?

~~~
coldtea
> _India has to push on all fronts. Increasing momentum in tech advancements
> is especially important. Focusing only on poverty /water scarcity/culture
> would be narrow minded._

Why? There's tons to do at that level, and money can be much better invested
there (with huge returns even for tech and innovation) than some me-too moon
landings.

You get more innovation by getting people out of poverty and into tech school,
than by sending some mission on the moon with people starving...

------
nilsocket
ISRO is also helping to launch satellite's designed by students for free.

[https://www.firstpost.com/tech/science/isros-new-pslv-
varian...](https://www.firstpost.com/tech/science/isros-new-pslv-variant-to-
launch-power-student-satellites-for-free-starting-25-jan-5933331.html)

[https://theprint.in/science/isro-to-launch-free-satellite-
tr...](https://theprint.in/science/isro-to-launch-free-satellite-training-
programme-for-students-from-developing-nations/72948/)

------
InterestBazinga
Why is there so much hostility against an achievement that is still pretty
rare? How many countries out of all the countries can boast about their space
program?

Why does everything have to be so political. People are ready to take a Jab at
Modi's govt at every single opportunity.

~~~
thewhitetulip
They are taking a jab at Indian government. They took a jab even when Modi was
not in power because the "west" says "India is a poor country and should focus
on food security than space program"

It is pure racism? I'm not sure of the exact term.

P.s. I remember such a cartoon when India had asked for some missile
technology few decades ago.

It is not about Modi but about general attitude of the west towards India

~~~
briandear
Having spent considerable time in India, I might argue that running water and
sanitation might be a bigger accomplishment than landing on the moon. Much of
India is profoundly poor — some of the worst absolute poverty I have ever seen
anywhere on Earth. Sending rockets to space seems to be a mission of vanity
and pride more than an actual benefit to the Indian people.

~~~
astatine
tehlike's response earlier in the thread is particularly appropriate here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20171915](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20171915)

~~~
thewhitetulip
Exactly! We just see the price but not the inventions or background technology
created as a by product of space research

------
swatkat
Chandrayaan-2 homepage:
[https://www.isro.gov.in/chandrayaan2-home](https://www.isro.gov.in/chandrayaan2-home)

------
sidcool
This will inspire a generation of Indians. If any country can have a space
program, they should. Like Elon Musk says, solving one problem after another
is necessary but not sufficient. People need to feel hopeful about the future.
The 1969 Moon landings have inspired a whole generation in the West. Despite
of the high costs, we are still reaping its benefits. I am a huge fan of all
agencies, ISRO, NASA, ESA, CNCA, Roscosmos etc.

------
samrohn
The first mission in this series
Chandrayan-1([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan-1))
had provided more evidence of presence of water on moon
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_water](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_water)

------
happy-go-lucky
> ISRO’s next priority is the $1.4 billion Gaganyaan mission, which aims to
> put three Indian “gaganauts” -- at least one of which will be a woman --
> into orbit.

According to this wiki
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronaut](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronaut),
they are vyomanauts, coined from the Sanskrit word व्योमन् (vyoman meaning
'sky' or 'space').

The wiki has some interesting terminology as to what spacecraft crew members
are called by different space agencies.

 _Dryden preferred "cosmonaut", on the grounds that flights would occur in the
cosmos (near space), while the "astro" prefix suggested flight to the stars_.

 _In English-speaking nations, a professional space traveler is called an
astronaut_.

 _NASA applies the term astronaut to any crew member aboard NASA spacecraft
bound for Earth orbit or beyond_.

 _By convention, an astronaut employed by the Russian Federal Space Agency (or
its Soviet predecessor) is called a cosmonaut in English texts. The word is an
anglicisation of the Russian word kosmonavt_

Polish uses kosmonauta and astronauta, _and the two words are considered
synonyms_.

In Chinese, _Yǔ háng yuán (宇航员, "Space-universe navigating personnel") is used
for astronauts and cosmonauts in general, while hángtiān yuán (航天员,
"navigating outer space personnel") is used for Chinese astronauts_

 _The term taikonaut is used by some English-language news media organizations
for professional space travelers from China_.

 _With the rise of space tourism, NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency
agreed to use the term "spaceflight participant" to distinguish those space
travelers from professional astronauts on missions coordinated by those two
agencies_.

 _and the Indian Space Research Organisation hope to launch a spacecraft in
2022 that would carry vyomanauts, coined from the Sanskrit word व्योमन्
(vyoman meaning 'sky' or 'space')_.

 _In Finland, the NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra, a Finnish American, has
sometimes been referred to as sisunautti, from the Finnish word sisu_.

~~~
rishav_sharan
A proper terminology would be "Vyom" \+ "maan" (like shaktiman - someone with
shakti/power).

Vyoman. almost sounds like Woman. :D Even sounds similar to "Viman" (Vee-maan)
which stands for planes/flying ships in sanskrit.

~~~
happy-go-lucky
> Vyoman. almost sounds like Woman. :D

The word _vyomanaut_ (vyo‧ma‧naut) is a portmanteau of Sanskrit _vyoman_ (sky
or space) and the suffix _-naut_ which forms nouns meaning a voyager.

------
tauwauwau
Just going to leave it here

Quotes from anime Space Brothers

Tomii Ryūnosuke: The American thinker Buckminster Fuller once called our
planet "Spaceship Earth." On the other hand, British scientist James Lovelock
stated that our planet was a life form named Gaia. I was always puzzled by the
contrast between spaceship and life form. But the British scientist Richard
Dawkins helped tie it together. Humans can be considered the Earth's genes.
The planet is trying to self-replicate. That is natural behavior for a life
form.

Tomii Ryūnosuke: Michael Ende once compared humans to cancer cells, but I
believe that humans are germ cells. However, there is the possibility that any
of us could become the cancer cell that destroys Earth.

Tomii Ryūnosuke: If we are truly Earth's genes, the purpose of space
exploration is because mutation is necessary.

------
varshithr
> _Chandrayaan, which means “moon vehicle” in Sanskrit_

Doesn't _Chandrayaan_ mean _a journey to the moon_?

~~~
spdebbarma
"Chandra" [चन्द्र] is one of the Hindi/Sanskrit words for the _Moon_. Other
examples are _chaand_ and _chandni_.

"Yaan" [यान] means _vehicle /coach_.

------
tibbydudeza
The budget of ISRO (their NASA) for what they have accomplished is amazing.

It is critical for India to retain the talents of own people rather let them
be poached by HB1 visa's and eventually emigrating to the US.

------
jillesvangurp
It's indeed "the west" that's in need of advice like this. I'd be a bit weary
of neo-colonialist arguments like this as well. There's a sense of entitlement
there that is increasingly at odds with the facts.

I think the west might need to wake up to the notion that increasingly China,
India and others are running the show according to their own agendas rather
than following in the footsteps of the west. A lot of the CEOs of companies
like Google, Microsoft, etc. are Indians. Lots of Indians are also active in
core industries in the US and the EU. Likewise, lots of Chinese can be found
across our industries at all layers and both are primary customers for our
best universities. Both have the education, expertise, and economies to
produce a moonshot. And neither of them is lacking in ambition. I think it's
become more a question of when than if, and sooner rather than later.

Either way, there's a new space race on and I think this is a good thing.
We've been stuck not getting back to the moon mostly for budgetary and other
non technical reasons. It's about time people go back there.

~~~
thewhitetulip
The "west" is busy with their political agendas.

Mr Trump thinks Mars is a part of moon. And NASA isn't getting funding due to
myriad reasons

Countries like India take pride in space achivements and defense related ones

That's why India China are shooting ahead while west is seemingly lagging
behind

I read somewhere that ISRO is able to launch satellites at fraction of a cost
as compared to SpaceX.

~~~
sgift
"Shooting ahead" == repeating what the west did 50 years ago. Interesting
definition of shooting ahead. The west (as if that's even a coherent body for
topics like this) has many problems. Being overtaken by India isn't one of
them. So far it's all "we want to do this, we want to do that" \- I want to be
a billionaire, doesn't make me one. We'll see if they can pull it off.

> I read somewhere that ISRO is able to launch satellites at fraction of a
> cost as compared to SpaceX.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.

~~~
thewhitetulip
Well, shooting ahead of themselves :)

I didn't say West is lagging behind India or India shooting ahead of the
"west"

Our competition is with ourselves and not with others.

Coming to cost of ISRO vs SpaceX

> There is also a big difference in terms of cost per mission. For example,
> the Falcon 9 launch vehicle’s cost per launch comes up to $62 million, while
> ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) costs roughly $15 million per
> launch.

Source: [https://www.thequint.com/tech-and-auto/tech-news/isro-vs-
spa...](https://www.thequint.com/tech-and-auto/tech-news/isro-vs-spacex-where-
does-indias-premier-space-agency-stand)

------
chauhankiran
The space program department[1] is under prime minister authority. So, this is
the obvious one.

[1].
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Modi_ministry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Modi_ministry)

------
AFascistWorld
Looks like another PR move by the Modi government.

~~~
swatkat
How is this parent comment getting upvotes? Stop spreading false information.
This mission was approved in 2008 by the then Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh[0].

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan-2)

------
Causality1
I'll be very happy if they pull this off without creating a massive cloud of
orbital debris like their last "space triumph".

[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/02/world/asia/nasa-india-
spa...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/02/world/asia/nasa-india-space-
debris.html)

~~~
z3phyr
That was the DRDO, analogous to USA DARPA. The Moon mission is from ISRO,
analogous to NASA.

~~~
godelmachine
IMHO, DRDO cannot be equated with DARPA.

DARPA tries to solve every challenge, irrespective of the field, by opening
contracts to the national public and holding contests among them. The winning
solution is often adopted for further enhancement.

------
lota-putty
India is very fortunate to attempt this feat* in 21st Century.

1\. 1991 USSR Collapse

2\. Technology today

3\. NASA insufficient funding

4\. Globalisation

Visit public-hospital at any sub-district/Taluk or any public-school in a
remote village.

I mean, potential is very high but most of it is misplaced. Chandrayaan,
Mangalyaan & Gaganyaan are easier today as opposed to improving public health
& education.

~~~
0xFFFE
What,exactly, are you on about?

~~~
swatkat
Moonshine.. maybe.

