India's Mars Mission Back On Track After Brief Hiccup 73
New submitter rahultyagi writes "After running into some problems in its fourth orbit-raising maneuver two days ago, Mangalyaan (India's Mars Orbiter Mission) seems to be back on track now. A supplementary burn lasting ~304 seconds was completed today, raising the apogee of MOM to 118,642 km — the intended apogee after the original maneuver. After the glitch two days ago, ISRO again seems to be on track to become the first entity to have a successful Mars mission on its first attempt. Though, of course, there are quite a few things that might still go wrong before this can be called a successful mission. Let's all hope that a year from now, we are all celebrating the entry of another nation into the small club capable of successful interplanetary missions."
Re: Casual slashdot racism in 3... (Score:5, Interesting)
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Did you know that if indisns shake their head from left to right that it means they agree with you ?
The difference is small... Let me clear this for the un-initiated.. if you consider an axis through the center of your head and the centre of your...nether region, and if the head shaking is about this axis, then it means "No" If you consider an axis through the tip of your nose and the back of your head, and if the head shaking is about THIS axis, then it means "Alright" or "affirmative"(especially if the indian you're talking to happens to be a terminator). Not to be confused with "yes". Source: I'm Indian
The real Triumph.... (Score:5, Interesting)
This is exciting. Really exciting. First the successful moon mission and now this.
However, from a ISRO's standpoint, this is more significant from another angle too.
With such low cost, now others are looking at India as a satellite launch country. Even before, those who wanted satellite launches, often came to ISRO if cost was an issue. But success rate was not too good.
With this mission reaching this stage, ISRO has shown that it can launch any type of satellite. From satellite launch perspective, this is a complete success. No doubt about it.
All these dollars invested will come back over the next few years, as more and more companies gain more trust in ISRO launch capabilities. I won't be surprised if ISRO recovers all the costs of this mission from commercial launches within the next 5 years.
I am at awed at their low cost ... (Score:5, Interesting)
... I was doing some reading on India's Mars mission and found two articles quoting the price tag for the entire mission to be $ 83 million.
Yes, you read it right, Eight-Three-Million-United-States-Dollars !
I don't know what NASA can come up with $ 83 Million, but I am pretty sure if NASA to send another probe to Mars it would be far greater than that.
PS. To my Indian friends, can you please share with us how you guys can keep the budget so low?
Re:Casual slashdot racism in 3... (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually the Soviets didn't get the scientists, they mostly left with Von Braun. The technicians that were left behind and the hardware that they hadn't been able to destroy were all the Soviets obtained. The Soviet space program was almost completely home-grown, before WWII they were probably second (after Germany) in rocket design. That is why the Energia looks so dramatically different than the Saturn V, other than some advanced metallurgy techniques and (IIRC) turbo-fuel pumps they really didn't get much from the German effort.