yaksha writes to tell us that the Indian Space probe, Chandrayaan, has become only the fourth nation to land a probe on the Moon. The 35-kg Moon Impact Probe touched down in what officials are describing as a "perfect operation." "Developed by ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre of Thiruvananthapuram, the primary objective of MIP is to demonstrate the technologies required for landing a probe at the desired location on the moon. The probe will help qualify some of the technologies related to future soft landing missions. This apart, scientific exploration of the moon at close distance is also intended using MIP."
I don't know if "landing" is the right term for it, exactly. That doesn't seem fair to people and devices that actually... don't splat when they "land."
Must not be mentioned in the article you read... in the one I read it states:
"Space official Shiv Kumar said the 34-kilogram probe hit the moon surface traveling at 1.6 kilometers per second, which is a speed of 5,760 kilometers per hour (3,579 mph)."
When someone asks you how far you'd get if you lost one of the engines, tell 'em "All the way to the scene of the crash! We'll beat the paramedics there by half an hour, we're haulin ass!"
They probably called it an 'Impact Probe' even though it's a lander because that way if it slams into the moon, they can just say 'Uhh ya that's what we meant to do'.
Considering that this advances humanity (albeit just a little more, since we've done similar things before, but rarely), I think all of humanity can be proud of this.
Congratulations! The more countries that study space, the better. The final frontier shouldn't be an elitists club; anyone with the dedication to develop and support a space program should be proud.
Get some images from another country of the original American landing site? They have the probe in orbit, as does China. It would finally put to rest (or verify) the conspiracy theories.
China, on the other hand, would probably love to be able to show the landing areas being completely devoid of equipment or flags. And, any pictures that are produced would be scrutinized, pixel by pixel, like the ones that were shown to be doctored by the Chinese last time.
is a story fretting about nasa funding shortfalls under the obama administration
so the larger take home message is that yes, while the american space program is but a shadow of its former glory, the global space race is alive and well, with china with its space walks and india with its moon landings, rising in prominence. the eu, australia, japan, brazil... lots of nations are in the game, no longer is it a cold war chest thumping exercise between the ussr and the usa
It might be nice if they had bothered with an official web site that contained any decent, up-to-date information about the mission. The "News" section is basically just the home page with nothing timely, and the latest entry on the "Press Releases" page is four days old.
I read a whole bunch of "wisecracks" and trolls about India and stereotypical bigoted comments about 7-11 and call centers, etc.
It is sad that geeks such as some on Slashdot choose to try and divide and disrespect as opposed to integrate and celebrate what is surely a quantum leap in what technology and engineering has enabled India/mankind to do.
When technology levels the playing ground, it becomes imperative for those whose hegemony is threatened change from their jingoism to a more mellifluous tune.
This does not change India's status as a "player" in that respect. It does not need very much range at all to hit Pakistan or China. It is so close to Pakistan that it would be -very- difficult for either side to retaliate in the case of a nuclear attack if there was any amount of hesitation, which does make the situation dangerous (for fear of false positive indicators of an attack) but this does not change that.
We can only hope that their prosperity also brings them a feeling of superiority and entitlement as well as a strong desire to spend the weekend watching sports from their couches. That should slow down their ascendency a bit.
Why worry? The more the Indian economy grows, the more employees it needs, the more salaries get driven up. Large Indian software companies are already helping drive up the cost of outsourcing IT jobs to India. Fair enough, it will mean more competition to some extent, but more likely it will long term drive up demand for IT skills worldwide (outsources are already scouring China, and even African countries are seeing investment - some Indian outsourcing companies are even sub-contracting to companies in th
Unfortunately, you're not the only one. A lot of people are deluded in precisely the same way. There's a old human instinct that gets misapplied in modern times such that when someone in Florida is successful, someone in Michigan gets excited about it, proud of the accomplishment and hopeful for his future prospects in the world, whereas if it's someone in Berlin or Baghdad or Beijing, the same person in Michigan gets depressed, takes no pride in it, and worries about his future prospects in the world. This never made a great deal of sense, and makes virtually none at all in the modern world with a global economy.
We enrich ourselves the most (both monetarily and culturally) through our interactions with those more closely on par with us economically. Our best trading partners are the G8, and we all profit immensely from their success. Our most harmful relationships, both for our own economies and citizens as well as for those we exploit, are with third-world nations. The imbalances in those relationships hurt us all in different ways.
The moral of this story is quite simple: the sooner India, China, and other third-world nations "get their acts together" and rise to "first-world" status, the sooner they come to be on par with us in the same way our G8 partners are, the richer we all will be. An impoverished and thus cheaply exploitable India is a far greater threat to us than opportunity -- a rich and prosperous India would be a far greater opportunity than threat.
The moral of this story is quite simple: the sooner India, China, and other third-world nations "get their acts together" and rise to "first-world" status, the sooner they come to be on par with us in the same way our G8 partners are, the richer we all will be. An impoverished and thus cheaply exploitable India is a far greater threat to us than opportunity -- a rich and prosperous India would be a far greater opportunity than threat.
That's not entirely true. The comfortable lives people in rich countries enjoy is because they can outsource labor to poorer countries. An iPod costs only $200 because they guy making it in China makes only (say) $200/month. Now if it were manufactured in the US, it would probably cost at least $300.
This'll have a rippling effect on prices of all commodities. For eg people whose services we depend upon, like cooks and waiters will demand more money, since their money will now buy less. As a result eating ou
Chandrayaan-1 is an orbiter that will be in operation for some time. The Moon Impact Probe just rode along. One purpose for the impactor was to serve as part of a dress rehearsal for a later soft landing mission.
From the source announcement [isro.org]:
"Weighing 34 kg at the time of its launch onboard Chandrayaan-1, the box shaped MIP carried three instruments â" a video imaging system, a radar altimeter and a mass spectrometer. The video imaging system was intended to take the pictures of the moonâ(TM)s surface as MIP approached it. The radar altimeter was included to measure the rate of descent of the probe to the lunar surface. Such instruments are necessary for future lunar soft landing missions. And, the mass spectrometer was for studying the extremely thin lunar atmosphere."
This should come as no surprise. Just as it should have been no surprise when the British Empire fell either.
It's very hard to understand why Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" is not required reading for politicians and corporate leaders. If you depend on slave labor (in the US case, outsourcing) then ultimately your empire will fall. It's inevitable. And yet so avoidable. Eventually, there is a payback for greed, and this's just yet more proof that politicians are ultimately self-centered
Since the US has been sat on its ass gloating for 40 years they're not 40 years behind any more. I'd put them maybe two or three before they go for the moon shot.
If they land men on the moon in two years, they'll be 41 years behind. You seem to assume we haven't accomplished anything since 1969. You're discounting our Mars missions (rovers, landers, satellites), the Hubble, the Space Station, GPS, the Shuttle, the upcoming JWST, not to mention the myriad satellites, probes and impacters. We've truly, repeatedly, gone where no man has gone before, they cannot say the same. It's much easier to follow in the footsteps of another than to blaze your own trail.
Granted, we haven't really made any giant leaps since 69, except for ubiquitous Internet (that's a massive except) and minicomputers, but we have made enough small steps to climb a mountain. Everything we did yesterday, we do better today. We haven't done too much new, just everything old, better. So much advancement has been made in the last 15 years, it's ridiculous. It may not be a space age, but it's certainly the age of improvement and refinement. Everything is smaller, faster, smarter, cheaper, and all around better. Many small steps, in aggregate, can be better than one giant leap.
It's foolish to assume that because people are catching up to our achievements made decades ago, that they are somehow superior to us. It is good for them though, and perhaps it will give us the impetus to move on to bigger and better things.
You know, I'm going to tell you something. It may seem like the sensible option would be to take the space money and put it elsewhere, but that isn't true.
India's INSAT series have been very helpful in the past, and people were saying this when those were launched. ISRO has a nice commercial launch program and this will only improve perceptions of their ability and reliability.
That's all without pointing out the implicit false dichotomy in your comment. India can solve its problems, we, as a people, in incredible short sightedness, have chosen not to. Corruption is rampant, but the only people who can stand strong against it (the informed, educated middle class) is happy because they have good salaries. The poor cannot do anything, they have little power. The rich won't do anything, they benefit. We're in that lovely no-man's land where it is better for the individual to take what he's got and live it nicely. I don't mean this as a condemnation of any political philosophy, or India itself. I am Indian, and I am like this, and I can see that everyone else is, too.
I was waiting for that - Stop all progress because someone somewhere needs something. Maybe you should stop shitting and flushing because someone in the world needs some water
The answer should be obvious. Slashdot has a narrow selection of geeks, most of whom are into computers per se, rather than in other 'geeky' stuff. Hence, most stuff not related directly to computers results in stuff like this.
Moon Base Dell Support Center (Score:3, Funny)
That's no moon.... (Score:2, Funny)
It's Cheese!
(if you mod this down, the meme will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine)
The first images.... (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:The first images.... (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Troll? Surely the Simpsons should be required knowledge before you get mod status...
Indian Probe? (Score:2, Funny)
So how long before there is a bollywood musical on this?
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Indian Probe? (Score:4, Funny)
big shiny space suits
You haven't seen a lot of recent Bollywood cinema have you?
While the outfits are likely to be shiny, the ones worn by the women during dance scenes will be tiny.
Parent
Landing? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
That was my first thought also.
On the other hand we use the expression "Land a punch" which is certainly not a soft feathery thing (we hope).
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Re: (Score:3, Funny)
But nobody walked away from this one...
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Must not be mentioned in the article you read... in the one I read it states:
"Space official Shiv Kumar said the 34-kilogram probe hit the moon surface traveling at 1.6 kilometers per second, which is a speed of 5,760 kilometers per hour (3,579 mph)."
The probe is a nation? (Score:5, Funny)
the Indian Space probe, Chandrayaan has become only the fourth nation to land a probe on the Moon
It also must be the smallest nation to ever accomplish such a feat!
Fun Fact (Score:2)
The Chandrayaan Constitution was twittered!
Re:The probe is a nation? (Score:4, Insightful)
Instead: "With the Chandrayaan-1 mission, the ISRO becomes the fourth space program..."
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Read more carefully. India might have a population of 1.15 billion, but the probe itself does not.
Which is it? (Score:5, Funny)
Is it a lander or did it impact?
When I book a flight, I want to know the landing time, not the impact time.
Re:Which is it? (Score:5, Funny)
That's because they *can* tell you the landing time in advance. The impact time tends to be determined on rather short notice...
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
When someone asks you how far you'd get if you lost one of the engines, tell 'em "All the way to the scene of the crash! We'll beat the paramedics there by half an hour, we're haulin ass!"
(Credit Ron White for that.)
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Pround moment (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Pround moment (Score:5, Insightful)
Considering that this advances humanity (albeit just a little more, since we've done similar things before, but rarely), I think all of humanity can be proud of this.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Can we finally... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
You know they're not going to accept that, either. It would just prove that the conspiracy reaches even further. India is a US ally, after all.
Re: (Score:2)
five stories below this one (Score:2)
is a story fretting about nasa funding shortfalls under the obama administration
so the larger take home message is that yes, while the american space program is but a shadow of its former glory, the global space race is alive and well, with china with its space walks and india with its moon landings, rising in prominence. the eu, australia, japan, brazil... lots of nations are in the game, no longer is it a cold war chest thumping exercise between the ussr and the usa
well, its still a tribal chest thumping
Information vacuum (Score:3, Interesting)
To be celebrated,not trolled (Score:3, Insightful)
I read a whole bunch of "wisecracks" and trolls about India and stereotypical bigoted comments about 7-11 and call centers, etc.
It is sad that geeks such as some on Slashdot choose to try and divide and disrespect as opposed to integrate and celebrate what is surely a quantum leap in what technology and engineering has enabled India/mankind to do.
When technology levels the playing ground, it becomes imperative for those whose hegemony is threatened change from their jingoism to a more mellifluous tune.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
O cmon Neil Armstrong's first words on the moon were " Thats one small step for man, one giant leap for... Sardarji aap yaha?"
Re:india has nukes (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re:Irrational Fear (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, if there's another successful nation on the planet, we're dooooooomed.
Talk about insecure.
Parent
Re:Irrational Fear (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, if there's another successful nation on the planet, we're dooooooomed.
For your sentiment to make sense, you'd have to be confident that America still has what it takes to go to the moon. Is that the case?
Re: (Score:2)
"Done for" in what sense? Just because someone else gets it better doesn't mean you get it worse.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Irrational Fear (Score:5, Insightful)
Unfortunately, you're not the only one. A lot of people are deluded in precisely the same way. There's a old human instinct that gets misapplied in modern times such that when someone in Florida is successful, someone in Michigan gets excited about it, proud of the accomplishment and hopeful for his future prospects in the world, whereas if it's someone in Berlin or Baghdad or Beijing, the same person in Michigan gets depressed, takes no pride in it, and worries about his future prospects in the world. This never made a great deal of sense, and makes virtually none at all in the modern world with a global economy.
We enrich ourselves the most (both monetarily and culturally) through our interactions with those more closely on par with us economically. Our best trading partners are the G8, and we all profit immensely from their success. Our most harmful relationships, both for our own economies and citizens as well as for those we exploit, are with third-world nations. The imbalances in those relationships hurt us all in different ways.
The moral of this story is quite simple: the sooner India, China, and other third-world nations "get their acts together" and rise to "first-world" status, the sooner they come to be on par with us in the same way our G8 partners are, the richer we all will be. An impoverished and thus cheaply exploitable India is a far greater threat to us than opportunity -- a rich and prosperous India would be a far greater opportunity than threat.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The moral of this story is quite simple: the sooner India, China, and other third-world nations "get their acts together" and rise to "first-world" status, the sooner they come to be on par with us in the same way our G8 partners are, the richer we all will be. An impoverished and thus cheaply exploitable India is a far greater threat to us than opportunity -- a rich and prosperous India would be a far greater opportunity than threat.
That's not entirely true. The comfortable lives people in rich countries enjoy is because they can outsource labor to poorer countries. An iPod costs only $200 because they guy making it in China makes only (say) $200/month. Now if it were manufactured in the US, it would probably cost at least $300.
This'll have a rippling effect on prices of all commodities. For eg people whose services we depend upon, like cooks and waiters will demand more money, since their money will now buy less. As a result eating ou
Re:Impact probe (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It's very hard to understand why Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" is not required reading for politicians and corporate leaders. If you depend on slave labor (in the US case, outsourcing) then ultimately your empire will fall. It's inevitable. And yet so avoidable. Eventually, there is a payback for greed, and this's just yet more proof that politicians are ultimately self-centered
Re: (Score:3)
Since the US has been sat on its ass gloating for 40 years they're not 40 years behind any more. I'd put them maybe two or three before they go for the moon shot.
Re:Ahh.. American Relevance (Score:5, Insightful)
If they land men on the moon in two years, they'll be 41 years behind. You seem to assume we haven't accomplished anything since 1969. You're discounting our Mars missions (rovers, landers, satellites), the Hubble, the Space Station, GPS, the Shuttle, the upcoming JWST, not to mention the myriad satellites, probes and impacters. We've truly, repeatedly, gone where no man has gone before, they cannot say the same. It's much easier to follow in the footsteps of another than to blaze your own trail.
Granted, we haven't really made any giant leaps since 69, except for ubiquitous Internet (that's a massive except) and minicomputers, but we have made enough small steps to climb a mountain. Everything we did yesterday, we do better today. We haven't done too much new, just everything old, better. So much advancement has been made in the last 15 years, it's ridiculous. It may not be a space age, but it's certainly the age of improvement and refinement. Everything is smaller, faster, smarter, cheaper, and all around better. Many small steps, in aggregate, can be better than one giant leap.
It's foolish to assume that because people are catching up to our achievements made decades ago, that they are somehow superior to us. It is good for them though, and perhaps it will give us the impetus to move on to bigger and better things.
Parent
Mod parent Funny (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Good day Sir, this is Patrick only.
What do you need IT support for?
To start your foreclosure paperwork?
Re:more people in poverty than population of USA (Score:5, Insightful)
India's INSAT series have been very helpful in the past, and people were saying this when those were launched. ISRO has a nice commercial launch program and this will only improve perceptions of their ability and reliability.
That's all without pointing out the implicit false dichotomy in your comment. India can solve its problems, we, as a people, in incredible short sightedness, have chosen not to. Corruption is rampant, but the only people who can stand strong against it (the informed, educated middle class) is happy because they have good salaries. The poor cannot do anything, they have little power. The rich won't do anything, they benefit. We're in that lovely no-man's land where it is better for the individual to take what he's got and live it nicely. I don't mean this as a condemnation of any political philosophy, or India itself. I am Indian, and I am like this, and I can see that everyone else is, too.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Read the exoplanet story comments [slashdot.org] from a few days back, for instance.