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Indian Moon Mission To Launch Next Month
Posted by
timothy
on Fri Sep 19, 2008 06:22 AM
from the goa-head-with-launch dept.
from the goa-head-with-launch dept.
Anil Kandangath writes with word that the Indian moon mission plans (mentioned earlier on Slashdot) are about to be put to the test. "While the spacecraft itself will not land on the Moon, it will act as an orbiter and land a rover on the surface. The spacecraft is being launched next month sometime between October 22 and October 26. The spacecraft payload includes 11 payloads (including one from NASA) and will perform remote sensing and studies of the lunar surface. The mission is estimated to cost Rs 386 crore (~ 84.3 million USD)." Update: 09/21 18:29 GMT by T : Thanks to reader Anil Gaddam for pointing out that this figure had been originally misstated as 7.7 million USD.
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India Plans Moon Mission by 2008 400 comments
LPetrazickis writes "According to the Tribune, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has announced today that India will send a spacecraft to the moon by 2008. The Chandrayaan-I mission will showcase Indian achievements in science and technology to the world. Both European and Canadian Space Agencies have shown interest in the mission. SifyNews reports that 2008 was initially mispronounced as 1908. Today is the 56th anniversary of India's independence." Previous talk about this has come from the Indian space agency; this announcement from the Prime Minister seems to have more weight.
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Indian Moon Mission to Have Landing Component 278 comments
Anil Kandangath writes "Last month, it was announced that the Indian moon mission Chandrayan I would have a component that would land on the moon to function as an impactor. For all those who complain about India spending big bucks on its space program, The Scientific Indian has a list of updates about the space program's plans for this year which includes two cartography satellites, a satellite based 'total disaster management system', a few communication satellites and a satellite launch for the European Union."
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What! Even NASA is outsourcing to India? (Score:4, Funny)
God help the US of A!
Re:What! Even NASA is outsourcing to India? (Score:5, Funny)
"Delhi, we are having a problem!"
"Space module 1, are you sure your computer is plugged in?"
"Yes, we have already checked that."
"You are sure?"
"Yes, we are very sure."
"What is the model of your router?"
"What?!!"
Parent
88 million USD (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=386+crore+inr+in+usd&btnG=Search
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
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Re:88 million USD (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Hmm. Maybe thats closer to 84 million USD (Score:5, Insightful)
Not quite so good but still cheap.
Perhaps we should outsource NASA?
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
The mission is estimated to cost Rs 386 crore (~ 84 million USD)."
Fixed.
Re:Hmm. Maybe thats closer to 84 million USD (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
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Avast! We got a problem with the (insert discrepant part here), Cap'n!
Cap'n pulls out his pistol and shoots the officer.
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Thats the price difference of insisting on *maned* spacecraft vers unmanned.
Names being considered for the craft are: "Horse", "Unicorn", "Lion" (Singh)...
Or in UK units: (Score:5, Funny)
0.00129 Olympicses.
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It's a freaking bargain, at only 210 "Lisa simpson giving head" logos.
Not that cheap (Score:4, Interesting)
The cost will not come within an asses' roar of 7.7 million USD. India is cheap, but not THAT cheap. 77 million USD, maybe. Perhaps if you factor out the cost of scientists and administrative staff already employed by the ISRO, and maintenance costs of existing facilities, and basically count only the cost of the rocket and parts, then maybe you'll come up with a 7.7 million USD bill. Otherwise I think someone forgot a decimal point somewhere.
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Stan: This rocket will fly to the moon?
MASA: Sí, fly.
Stan: To the moon?
MASA: Sí.
Stan: We want to take something to the moon. How much would that cost?
MASA: O-ah... Two hundred.
Stan: Two hundred? Million?
MASA: Two hundred... dollars.
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Misconversion? (Score:4, Informative)
Hmm. Summary says 386 crore, but the conversion is only for 36 crore?
386 crore Indian rupees = 84.00518 million U.S. dollars
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=386+crore+inr+in+usd&btnG=Search
Re:Misconversion? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
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Actually, it was just an error from Metric to Imperial units.
Bill
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
>It's why it it's so cheap. They're running it on a 386 with 4 megs of RAM.
Awesome!
Each of the NASA space shuttle's five on-board computers has the equivalent of only 400K RAM.
Thank you, come again. (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Thank you, come again. (Score:5, Insightful)
First they laugh at you ... then they ignore you ... then they fight you ... then you win ...
Parent
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Tin Foil Hat comment (Score:2)
They are launching just prior to the new moon http://www.astrologyoz.com/moon/2008moonphase.htm [astrologyoz.com] so on arrival, we won't be able to see it particularly well or at all. Wonder what the reason for that is? I think they are in collusion with the Illuminati and have Halloween evil planned for all of Earth. They didn't name their lander Kali by chance did they?
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I think they are in collusion with the Illuminati and have Halloween evil planned for all of Earth.
I just checked, Nope. it seems that us in the illuminati dont have anything planned. In fact I believe this month is my chapter's turn at having the holy grail. I'll need to look at the great temple calender to make sure though... It might just be the boring alien communication thing again. God I hate those, the jerks from Omicron Percei 8 wont shut up.
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arrrrggghhhh
At least someone saw the humor
namaste (Score:5, Insightful)
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Screw that. India is a parliamentary democracy and a long term rival of China. This ain't Star Trek. Let's talk to the Aussies and get them to ship that uranium. Maybe we can negotiate a military alliance.
Oops, I mean namaste. Congratulations on your mostly peaceful use of rockets and nuclear technology
Payloads... (Score:2, Funny)
And each of those includes another 11 payloads?
Very clever, young man. But it's payloads all the way down.
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And each of those includes another 11 payloads?
Very clever, young man. But it's payloads all the way down.
been reading Dawking have we?
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been reading Dawking have we?
No but he might have been reading Dawkins...
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No, that's the spaceprobe that's being launched by the St. Ives Space Agency next month.
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Secret mission details. (Score:5, Funny)
Crore, lakh etc (Score:5, Informative)
Won't anyone think of the whales? (Score:2)
Please, it's "Native American" (Score:2, Funny)
Sorry to be the PC police here, but "Indian" is a derogatory term for Native Americans.
Re:Please, it's "Native American" (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Did you mean: Karma police ?
No rover on this mission. (Score:5, Informative)
The Chandrayaan-2 mission will be the first rover mission and is scheduled for 2011.
Great info about the mission here [wordpress.com]
more space exploration, the better (Score:5, Insightful)
actual headline should read (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Finally! (Score:5, Insightful)
We can't expect the U.S. to do it alone, given all the poor and homeless people in the U.S.
Actually its more like we can't expect the US to do it because they have a nasty habit of only allowing major space missions to go ahead when it is politically expedient, and cutting their budgets when it isn't. That's no way to run a space exploration effort.
Whats needed is a driving force other than political one upmanship (ooh look, China's going to the Moon, so we better say we're off to Mars.) How long have we had the technology to go to Mars? Several decades, but it takes China moving into space to kick off the US effort again.
I feel sorry for the people at NASA and JPL, I really do. It would be nice if they could just be given the funding to do it and left alone to get the job done.
Market forces would also be a much better driving force. As it is the way things are going the race to Mars will result not in exploration bases, but military ones, official 'stake claimers' with a mandate to keep it for whichever country gets there first with a large enough force..
Parent
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84 million US$, actually.