If it can be done, India can do it.
< snicker >
Send George Clooney
Because Indian companies pay their employees squat!
because they outsource the engineering work to Elbonians?
Low wages and a modest payload. But the cost is not the important thing. The important thing is they got there, where many have failed. Now that they learned on a cheap satellite, they can do something bigger.
Congrats, guys.
“Mangalyaan has gone equipped with an instrument that will try to measure methane in the atmosphere.
This is one of the hottest topics in Mars research right now, following previous, tantalising observations of the gas.”
Only one problem with that. NASA says that no methane exists on Mars. I can’t wait for the Indians to to prove them wrong.
NASA Curiosity Rover Detects No Methane on Mars
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-285
Mars Mystery Deepens: Curiosity Rover Finds No Sign of Methane
http://www.space.com/22862-mars-methane-missing-curiosity-rover.html
Celebration at Mission Control
So do they get bigger bang for the buck on military hardware?
Well, India’s space program has no budget line for “outreach to the Muslim World”. . .
Because anything run by govt. bureaucrats is more expensive.