Mission Mars in 2013-2014

[yoda]

If not Mars, the money probably goes to some Politician's account. I say Mars all the way.

[coffee_rules]

Congress is investing in legit businesses like these..

[Clarke]

Why Does India Keep Sending Missions into Space Without Any Interest in Science? India’s Moon mission was launched a few months before the 2009 general election and now there is a Mars mission a few months before the 2014 general election. But where is the scientific advancement?

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has a busy schedule this year. Yesterday, on August 19, its engineers attempted to launch a geostationary launch vehicle with an indigenous cryogenic system, although they called it off at the eleventh hour due to a fuel leak. Yesterday's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) was meant to carry heavier loads than the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) that India already has. The reason GSLV can carry heavier loads is that it is additionally powered by cryogenic propulsion (meaning that it runs on liquid hydrogen). Yesterday was the culmination of almost 20 years of work - India has been trying to build its own indigenous GSLV since 1994, and in seven launches has only twice delivered its payload to the correct orbit (the first five of those launches were with the help of Russian engines). Yesterday's would have been the third attempt of an all-Indian GSLV in which the rocket was supposed to carry a 2-tonne communication satellite. ISRO will soon turn its attention to a mission to Mars, scheduled for sometime in November. This reportedly Rs 450-crore mission has been named Mangalyaan ("Mars-craft" in Hindi) and is expected to launch from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh using a PSLV rocket. ISRO engineers are currently busy getting the instruments ready to be integrated into the Mangalyaan launch vehicle. They have not had much time for planning and fabricating the instruments, though, since this mission was approved in early 2012 and they have had a lead time of only a year and a half. Hardly enough time to plan, design and fabricate new instruments for frontline research in space. On the other hand, ISRO can't afford to delay Mangalyaan. Planets tend to come close to each other and then drift away, depending on their orbital positions at any given time. November this year provides a window when ISRO can cut a short path to Mars, hence making the mission much less costlier. If ISRO misses this opportune window this year, it will have to wait for a couple of years for another such moment. As a result, ISRO engineers are going to end up flying a variation of their 2008 Chandrayaan-1 mission to the Moon. Like Chandrayaan-1, Mangalyaan, too, is going to only orbit its target red planet (although in a rather elongated orbit) and take images of its surface. It will not be a robotic mission, as has been incorrectly reported in the media - it will simply take photographs from above and not land on Mars. To be fair, ISRO has announced that Mangalyaan is simply going to be a 'technology demonstration' mission and is not intended for scientific experiments - it is meant to merely test India's technological capabilities in space. Mars is admittedly a difficult target and only the Americans have tasted success with it so far. The Russians have been trying to send missions to Mars ever since their Sputnik days in the 1960s - 19 missions attempted till date, with a mere two successes total, and only one successful landing mission. A European mission in 2003 failed to land on the surface as well. Last year, Chinese engineers had planned to send a landing mission to Phobos, one of the two Martian satellites, with the help of a Russian launch vehicle; they could not send it beyond our own atmosphere and the instrument fell back unceremoniously to Earth. In light of this chequered history of missions to our neighbouring planet, it will certainly be considered a success if ISRO scientists manage to put their spacecraft in an orbit around Mars. However, the question that lingers is: How relevant is the Mangalyaan mission going to be in the overall scheme or vision of India's space programme? Apart from demonstrating technological capabilities, it is unlikely to bring any other dividends to India. Scientifically, it is not going to achieve much. There will be an instrument on board to detect and measure methane in the Martian atmosphere. There have been a few controversial and contradictory measurements in this regard lately. A few years ago, NASA scientists spotted (from Earth) a large variation in the concentration of methane in the Martian atmosphere, peaking around the Martian summer time. But NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars more recently ruled out the existence of methane through a detailed analysis. Why is this significant? Methane is produced by microorganisms (like those in humans' digestive systems) that decompose undigested food. Also, methane is easily destroyed on Mars by the Sun's ultraviolet rays since the planet does not have a protective ozone layer like Earth's. Hence, the existence of methane gives clues to the presence of life at present on Mars - and not necessarily of just life in the past. But either way, a hurriedly designed instrument on Mangalyaan is unlikely to resolve this issue since it requires a much more sensitive detector system. The fact is that the scientific aspects of ISRO missions have witnessed a gradual decline over the past couple of decades. In the 1990s, a few of ISRO's astronomical instruments - that were sent piggyback on satellites meant for telecommunication - actually managed to do frontline research on black holes in our galaxy. Those were stepping-stones and we should have built on their successes. The Chandrayaan-1 moon mission in 2008 was mostly a failure as far as scientific advances are concerned, despite what the media has reported. Although it was heralded as a mission that would galvanize Indian youth and attract them to science, the only effect was a vaguely patriotic euphoria. The much-publicized discovery of ice on moon, before Chandrayaan-1 stopped functioning within a few months of launch, was actually made with an instrument designed, fabricated and used by the Americans. The scientific paper on this discovery had a few names from the upper echelons of ISRO out of courtesy, but they had nothing to do with the instrument or the analysis. Instead of inspiring the youth of India, or even the young engineers and scientists of ISRO, the discovery was and is being used by old technocrats in order to advance their own careers. In any other nation, such a grand mission would have been an opportunity to facilitate young engineers to work alongside foreign collaborators. And the news of any new discovery would have been used to laud those young engineers and reach out to the public and our students. The ISRO bureaucracy, however, has seen it fit for its missions to be used instead as a means of self-congratulation. Once upon a time in in the 1970s, Satish Dhawan, probably the most charismatic chairman ISRO has ever had, used to inspire young engineers and scientists by placing them in the front row after every successful mission and coming forward himself to take responsibility in case of failures. Today's bureaucratic attitude to space missions has led to plans being projected from above and engineers being ordered to come up with designs within a stipulated time, however impractical this might be. For example, some of the instruments on Chandrayaan-1 were also designed in a hurry and without any focus on the possible scientific outcome. It is not surprising that the only instrument that managed to salvage the mission with a notable discovery was not made in India. These trends are ominous in the sense that real problems voiced by engineers are often brushed aside, and the definition of 'success' and 'failure' of a mission can be easily juggled by senior technocrats. Recently, there have been missions such as EDUSAT (2004) and YouthSat (2012) that were designed, apparently, to help spread distance education and to help graduate students design mission payloads. But the results from these missions have never been explained to the public at large, and have not even been discussed in internal conferences held by ISRO for its own engineers and scientists. Ideally, such missions, too, should have been used as a platform to enthuse our students and youngsters. One wonders how many Indians have even heard of these missions. India's mission collaborations with other countries are much touted as being equal partnership activities - such as the 2011 Megha-Tropiques satellite mission with France to study the tropical weather system. But such collaborations end up being mostly led by scientists of these other countries, while ISRO congratulates itself for having supplied the launch vehicle. Is India in danger of becoming a designated cab driver in space? We will become permanent drivers for other countries if we continue to lose sight of the scientific activities that should accompany technological advances. The latter is likely to continue as long as technocrats are touted as scientists in our country. It is the rise of bureaucracy in the Department of Space that threatens to sully its heritage from the days of Vikram Sarabhai and Satish Dhawan. When Indira Gandhi first moved to set up a separate Department of Space, Dhawan ensured that its headquarters be set up in Bangalore, far from the power plays of New Delhi. It is still the only union ministry with its headquarters outside New Delhi. :hatsoff: These days, the frequency of high profile missions such as Chandrayaan-1 and Mangalyaan seem to coincide frighteningly close to the five-year cycle of general elections, and it shows how ISRO has come a long way down the hill. :protest: Biman Nath is an astrophysicist at the Raman Research Institute, Bangalore, and a writer.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/why-does-india-keep-sending-missions-into-space-without-any-interest-in-science--054217046.html

[adi B]

u guys took this news seriously? this mission was just a state of mind

[surajmal]

Seems like sour grapes/myopia to me (allthough I can see where he is coming from). ISRO is in capability building stage at the moment. If he thinks they can do proper science and build the necessary framework on a piddly budget, then, I don't know what to say. And politics will be played with your "jewels" regardless of who is in the government.

[beetle]

If not Mars' date=' the money probably goes to some Politician's account. I say Mars all the way.[/quote'] +1 Mars mission ....Damaad ji ki Mars waali land ki registry karwaani hai....:nervous:

[Detonator]

Around 1,800 Indians apply for the Mars One project to permanently settle on Mars

Many of us may not be alive to see an Indian stepping on the Moon, but there’s a high chance we could see one stepping on Mars. According to a ToI report, nearly 1,800 Indians have applied for the Mars One program, which will send a contingent of humans to the Red Planet in 2022 to settle there permanently. “This program is proving to be extremely popular among Indians,” Aashima Dogra, spokesperson of the Netherland-based Mars One said. “The number of Indians who’ve applied has increased from 6 in May to 1,800 in the last three months.” She further reveals that off the 1,800, a large part of them are from Bangalore. For those who aren’t familiar, Mars One is an NGO which plans to settle a group of humans on Mars in 2023. To fund this ambitious project, the program will televise every aspect of the mission, right from launch to landing and living on Mars. The program is currently open for anyone to apply and only needs the applicant to pay $7 (Rs 432 approximately) as an initial fee. The main criteria for applying are that the applicant should be over the age of 18 and is mentally stable. According to the plans listed on the company website, the training will begin in 2015, followed by the launch of two rovers in 2018 and a cargo mission in 2020. The first human flight will be in 2022. The company is currently looking for the right space ship to take the applicants to the Red Planet

http://www.bgr.in/news/around-1800-indians-apply-for-the-mars-one-project-to-permanently-settle-on-mars/ I might have applied if the mission is to Europa or Ganymede.

[hhunaeh]

Around 1' date=800 Indians apply for the Mars One project to permanently settle on Mars http://www.bgr.in/news/around-1800-indians-apply-for-the-mars-one-project-to-permanently-settle-on-mars/ I might have applied if the mission is to Europa or Ganymede.

International reality shows with indians in it? International reality shows will try to cater to the rich audience in countries like america and europe. Sorry indians. But in all probability they will collect the money from everyone and then wait till everybody forgets about it.

[Detonator]

International reality shows with indians in it? International reality shows will try to cater to the rich audience in countries like america and europe. Sorry indians. But in all probability they will collect the money from everyone and then wait till everybody forgets about it.

Good point. Or they get them to Neveda desert calling it as Mars :giggle: Reminds me of a Tamizh movie Kadhanayagan (remake of a malayalam movie, Nadodikkattu), where a guy tells the heros to get them to Dubai illegally, instead he takes them to Kochi and tell it as Dubai. They two roam around in a Sheik dress in Kochi :hysterical: