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Space Science Technology

Indian Moon Mission To Launch Next Month 176

Posted by timothy 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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Indian Moon Mission To Launch Next Month More

Indian Moon Mission To Launch Next Month

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  • What! Even NASA is outsourcing to India? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 19, 2008 @07:24AM (#25069057)

    God help the US of A!

  • 88 million USD (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 19, 2008 @07:25AM (#25069063)

    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=386+crore+inr+in+usd&btnG=Search

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by brianjlowry ( 1015645 )
      I followed your link and it says 85 million.
      • After accounting adjustment, the summary is right: the Indian officials receiving the $85m just deposit $77.3m of which into their Barclay accounts and, on behalf of them, Barclay promptly invests the proceeds in the remaining assets of Lehman Brothers.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by agm1101 ( 944973 )
      84.96632 million and going down!

  • Hmm. Maybe thats closer to 84 million USD (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 19, 2008 @07:27AM (#25069083)

    Not quite so good but still cheap.

    Perhaps we should outsource NASA?

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by shank001 ( 1352821 )

      The mission is estimated to cost Rs 386 crore (~ 84 million USD)."

      Fixed.

    • that seems unreasonably cheap considering it costs more than that just to get to orbit in a Soyuz capsule. 700 million seems more probable.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by delt0r ( 999393 )
        Thats the price difference of insisting on *maned* spacecraft vers unmanned.

        • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

          by srussia ( 884021 )

          Thats the price difference of insisting on *maned* spacecraft vers unmanned.

          Names being considered for the craft are: "Horse", "Unicorn", "Lion" (Singh)...

  • That's a great news

  • Or in UK units: (Score:5, Funny)

    by Curmudgeonlyoldbloke ( 850482 ) on Friday September 19, 2008 @07:28AM (#25069089)

    0.00129 Olympicses.

  • Not that cheap (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ObsessiveMathsFreak ( 773371 ) <obsessivemathsfreak.eircom@net> on Friday September 19, 2008 @07:30AM (#25069107) Homepage Journal

    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.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by RuBLed ( 995686 )
      I bet you haven't heard the news yet...

    • 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.

      • Well, this dialog in Brazil:

        Stan: This rocket will fly to the moon?
        Silva: Yes, fly.
        Stan: To the moon?
        Silva: Yep.
        Stan: We want to take something to the moon. How much would that cost?
        Silva: 50.
        Stan: 50 Million?
        Silva: 50 Billions... dollars... only for full.
    • I can't find the 386 crore figure anyway in TFA, but yes, 7.7 million USD is damn cheap. Even if it were 77 millon NASA should really start considering outsourcing their launches.

  • Misconversion? (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 19, 2008 @07:32AM (#25069121)

    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

  • Forget outsourcing, now we'll be outspacing.

  • Get your math correct (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    1 US Dollar = 47 Indian Rupees

    1 crore = 10 million

    386 crore rupees ~ 82 million USD

    Cheap, I know. But you are an order of magnitude off.

  • Thank you, come again. (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 19, 2008 @07:41AM (#25069193)
    At this rate, when the first space tourists reach the moon, there'll be a Kwiki-Mart there waiting for them.

  • 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?

    • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      > They didn't name their lander Kali by chance did they?

      Chandrayaan-I is the name of the program and the spacecraft. http://www.isro.org/chandrayaan/htmls/home.htm

      Chandrayaan is Sanskrit for "Moon Craft" http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Chandrayaan

      Thus if the "Moon Impact Probe" has a name at all, it's probably Sanskrit for moon impact probe. ;-)

      Chandrayaan-II has the lander/rover. The manned mission is planned for 2020. http://chandrayaan.wordpress.com/2007/04/29/manned-moon-mission-by-2020/

      It's

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Lumpy ( 12016 )

      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.

  • namaste (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Monkey-some ( 1178115 ) on Friday September 19, 2008 @07:44AM (#25069217)
    This is nice to see a nation like India, who got quite a few brilliant people, enters into the space race "as a major player".

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Diamo ( 1364811 )
      Agreed, lets get everyone in space and start sharing knowledge. Cooperation off the planet might lead to more on it.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by Hal_Porter ( 817932 )

        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

    • This is nice to see people falling in love, making happy families, birds chirping, nice mountains, fresh air and world piece.

    • They are educated in Canada!

  • Payloads... (Score:2, Funny)

    by McWilde ( 643703 )

    The spacecraft payload includes 11 payloads

    And each of those includes another 11 payloads?

    Very clever, young man. But it's payloads all the way down.

    • The spacecraft payload includes 11 payloads

      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?

    • The spacecraft payload includes 11 payloads

      And each of those includes another 11 payloads?

      No, that's the spaceprobe that's being launched by the St. Ives Space Agency next month.

    • "All the way down" to where? I don't think I've ever gotten a satisfactory answer. On a related note, perhaps we should consider using turtle-shell filaments as the composite material for a space-elevator tether. Remarkably strong stuff.
  • and now this. Going to the moon for 25,000,000,000 rupees. We're in big trouble.

  • Secret mission details. (Score:5, Funny)

    by old dr omr ( 1289450 ) on Friday September 19, 2008 @08:10AM (#25069371)
    Secret mission details: Apparently invloves 240,000 Miles of rope and a very loud flute.

  • Finally! (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by MMC Monster ( 602931 )

    The more countries (and private groups) we have performing these types of missions, the better.

    We can't expect the U.S. to do it alone, given all the poor and homeless people in the U.S., the recent financial system meltdown, and the large number of people in the penal system in the U.S.

    The U.S. has other worries. Let Europe, India and China inherit the moon.

    • Re:Finally! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by thermian ( 1267986 ) on Friday September 19, 2008 @08:30AM (#25069535)

      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..

      • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward

        > I feel sorry for the people at NASA and JPL,...

        Ahem, JPL is NASA.

        JPL (Pasadena, CA) does NASA's unmanned exploration.

        JSC (Houston) is Mission Control for NASA manned flights.

        KSC (Cape Canaveral) is NASA's launch facility.

        etc. http://www.nasa.gov/about/sites/index.html

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Diamo ( 1364811 )
        The tech to get to Mars does and does not exist. There are still major problems to get around such as shielding the occupants from radiation. We know how to do it but it is prohibitively expensive. The best shield we have is water but that is just too costly to ship up to space in the quantities required. There are experiments on-going into new materials but we don't *really* have the tech yet.

        http://www.hps.org/publicinformation/ate/q4856.html [hps.org]

        • Um, lolwut?

          Look up Project Orion. The technology to get to Mars cost-effectively and efficiently has existed for decades.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Diamo ( 1364811 )

        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..

        Also I think you'll find that you are wrong concerning military bases on the moon. If you read the basic outline of the Outer Space Treaty and have a look at the huge numbers of countries that have ratified it you'll see that any attempt at a military operation would be met with global outrage.

        Of course that might not stop some coutries trying but unlikely really.

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty [wikipedia.org]

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by smithmc ( 451373 ) *

          Also I think you'll find that you are wrong concerning military bases on the moon. If you read the basic outline of the Outer Space Treaty and have a look at the huge numbers of countries that have ratified it you'll see that any attempt at a military operation would be met with global outrage.

          You mean, kinda like how we all promised not to militarize orbital space? Uh, huh. How's that working out so far? What with the Keyholes and the SDI and the shooting satellites out of orbit and all that? Nah, we'd never dream of trying to militarize Mars...

  • Anonymous Coward. (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    from the ISRO site,go look it up yourselves

    The budgetary estimate for realising the proposed Indian lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 stands at Rs. 386.00 crores (about $76 million). This includes Rs. 53.00 crores (about $11 million) for Payload development, Rs. 83.00 crores (about $17 million) for Spacecraft Bus, Rs. 100.00 crores ($20 million) towards establishment of Deep Space Network, Rs. 100.00 crores ($20 million) for PSLV launch vehicle and Rs. 50.00 crores ($10 million) for scientific data centre, extern

  • Crore, lakh etc (Score:5, Informative)

    by shas3n ( 1121469 ) on Friday September 19, 2008 @08:38AM (#25069599)
    Indians use a different system of counting. After the thousand, they have a name for every second power of ten (unlike the western system of naming every third power). The system goes like this: 1000: 1e3: Thousand 100 thousands: 1e5 : Lakh 100 lakhs : 1e7 : Crore So 386 crores at about 46 INR a dollar is about 86 million USD.

    • 1000: 1e3: Thousand 100 thousands: 1e5 : Lakh 100 lakhs : 1e7 : Crore

      correct!

      So 386 crores at about 46 INR a dollar is about 86 million USD.

      Wrong!! 1 crore is 1,00,00,000: 1e7 386 crores is 386,00,00,000. So 1 dollor = 46 Rs approx. Then 386 crore Rs is $ 83913043.47. So approx. 84 million USD.

  • It has been reported that Vindaloo sauce is being used as a cheap replacement for rocket fuel- careful! that is very very HOT!
  • On behalf of the Intergalactic Whaling Commission I wish to protest!

  • Sorry to be the PC police here, but "Indian" is a derogatory term for Native Americans.

  • No rover on this mission. (Score:5, Informative)

    by lessgravity ( 314124 ) on Friday September 19, 2008 @09:35AM (#25070271)

    The Chandrayaan-2 mission will be the first rover mission and is scheduled for 2011.
    Great info about the mission here [wordpress.com]

  • I know I can't be the only one... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    ...who thought of "That's one small step for man" in Apu's accent.

  • more space exploration, the better (Score:5, Insightful)

    by peter303 ( 12292 ) on Friday September 19, 2008 @10:23AM (#25070881)
    I wish them luck

  • There are 2 NASA payloads selected for the Chandrayaan I, not one.

    1. The MiniSAR [chandrayaan-i.com]: To detect water ice in permanently shadowed regions on the lunar poles.
    2. The M3 [chandrayaan-i.com]: A mineral mapper.

  • Why so cheap? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by shady2 ( 1321923 )
    1 A shuttle mission costs about $450M. If India can get to the moon for $7.7M we should outsource the whole space program 2 Question: It India rigged this for sub-orbital flight would in be able to carry a nuclear payload? Do we need to be (re)starting the cold war on THREE fronts? Russia, China (also launching) and now India.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by VJ42 ( 860241 ) *

      1 A shuttle mission costs about $450M. If India can get to the moon for $7.7M we should outsource the whole space program 2 Question: It India rigged this for sub-orbital flight would in be able to carry a nuclear payload? Do we need to be (re)starting the cold war on THREE fronts? Russia, China (also launching) and now India.

      Firstly, as about a million posts have pointed out it's closer to $77 not $7.7. Secondly, India is a parliamentary democracy and long term rival of China, if anything we* should support and bolster their efforts as a counterweight to the Chinese.

      *By we I mean the West in general; also full disclosure, although I was born in the UK my ancestry is Indian, so I may have personal biases.

  • Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday September 19, 2008 @12:46PM (#25072999)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Are they planning to open a casino there, too? Darn those cagey Native Americans and their forward-thinking ways!

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