Posted on 11/21/2004 11:30:00 AM PST by tricky_k_1972
BANGALORE, India (AFP) Nov 21, 2004 India's space agency is ready to send a man to space within seven years if the government gives the nod, while preparations have already begun for the launch of an unmanned lunar mission, a top official said.
Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the country's premier space agency, said the scientific community in the country had already started a debate on the manned mission.
"The question of a manned mission is glaring before us now," Nair told AFP ahead of a lunar conference which kicks off in the northern Indian city of Udaipur on Monday.
"The thought process has begun and various agencies have come up with ideas. Whether it is now or later is a question to be considered," Nair said.
"We have not taken it up to the government level yet. But if we are asked to ... and are given adequate funding, we can achieve it in six to seven years from today," he said.
India sent its first astronaut, Rakesh Sharma, aboard Soviet spacecraft Salyut 7 in April 1984 while another astronaut, Kalpana Chawla, was killed along with six others in the Columbia shuttle disaster in February last year.
Nair said "a lot of debate" had to take place in India before a final decision is taken on a manned space flight.
"The benefits and the costs involved have to be examined. Various facilities and equipment such as a space capsule for human habitation, shielding, control and safety features have to be built -- a large amount of funding is required," he said.
India's unmanned lunar flight, Chandrayaan (Moon Journey), slated to launch by the end of 2007 or early 2008, was on schedule, Nair said.
"The design work for Chandrayaan has been completed and we are in the phase of implementing various types of prototypes," he said. "Building instruments and calibrating them to match exact conditions on the moon is a big challenge.
"We do not expect any difficulty with respect to the spacecraft and launch vehicle. The acquisition of land for deep space exploration has also been completed. Things are progressing well for the targetted launch latest by early 2008," he said.
The mission, to place a 525 kilogram (1,125 pound) orbiter using an indigenously-built polar satellite launch vehicle, is slated to cost the agency 83 million dollars.
The satellite will go around the polar orbit about 100 kilometersmiles) above the moon.
Critics have slammed the mission saying it is outdated and the organisation was wasting its money from a limited budget of 25 billion rupees (543 million dollars) allotted by the government.
They say cash-strapped India should not undertake the mission but instead restrict its space programmes to satellite launches and use its funds for social welfare.
But ISRO chief Nair defended the mission and said it would spur the Indian scientific community and probe the physical characteristics of the lunar surface in greater depth than previous missions by other nations.
"It will explore its minerals, map the terrain and find out whether water and helium deposits exist. It will also give us a deeper understanding about the planet Earth itself or its origins," he said.
"Earlier missions did not come out with a full understanding of the moon and that is the reason scientists are still interested.
"We do not want to take a beaten track," Nair said. "We have to find our own answers and see whether it is a cost-effective solution and it is going to bring benefits."
The US, Russia and Japan have already carried out moon missions and China is planning an unmanned space flight next year.
The ISRO is considering proposals from the US, Europe and France to carry auxiliary payload on the satellite, Nair said.
"There are about half-a-dozen proposals which are in their final stages," he said.
The lunar conference in Udaipur is being attended by about 200 Indian and foreign delegates from countries such as the United States, Europe, Japan, Russia and China.
Space Ping!
Gee. There are those who still don't believe the U.S.
actually landed on the moon...it was all an Amerian video
show which spoofed the world! And now a 3rd rate country
is blasting off? What are the Loonies going to think about that!?
I brought KC into town for a conference I produced a few years back. She was a pleasure to work with. Boy did it hurt when I heard she was on board.
There is more interest in developing outer space among Indians than in any other population. Their economy has held them back. They should withdraw from the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty and establish private property rights in outer space. That would do it.
This is nuts. I'm all for accelerating the exploration of space, but India launching a manned mission? That's insane. India has hundreds of millions -- repeat, hundreds of millions -- of people so poor they can't put a roof over their head or get enough to eat. India needs to put the money that would be wasted on this space initiative into population-control measures. Perhaps a century from now India can legitimately examine developing its own manned space capability.
This is nuts. I'm all for accelerating the exploration of space, but India launching a manned mission? That's insane. India has hundreds of millions -- repeat, hundreds of millions -- of people so poor they can't put a roof over their head or get enough to eat. India needs to put the money that would be wasted on this space initiative into population-control measures. Perhaps a century from now India can legitimately examine developing its own manned space capability.
Before you say something is nuts.. do give it a thought.
By your logic.. the US should close down nasa to finance healthcare for all those americans without health insurance.
Also India has an enormous number of science and technology graduates.. some of whom migrate to the US and Europe for better opportunities.. Their talent can be retained by India by providing Grand oportunities such as this. Its not nuts at all.
Poverty allieviation should definitely be a priority but they dont have to stop investing in science and Hi-tech to achieve that.
No, no, the US and India are quite different. Many miles apart. The US is far, far more advanced than India, and whatever problems the US has with poverty or lack of healthcare are a far cry from the mind-boggling poverty that's pervasive in India. As for those Indian science and tech graduates, I'm all for creating jobs for them in the computer industry -- in India. But it's nuts to think that an Indian government decision not to proceed with a manned space program will somehow cause these scientists to migrate. There's plenty of other private-sector S&T work for them to do.
Creating the framework for a manned space mission (or other space ventures) generates numerous employment opportunities for not only science/Eng graduates(in both the govt & private sectors),but also for people engaged in construction,tranportation & other infrastructure sectors-Besides it will also bring in precious foreign exchange as many nations such as (South Korea,Singapore,Malaysia to name a few) have benefitted from India's space ventures.The spinoffs from India's civilian space programme has helped countless fisherfolk & farmers stay employed due to the benefit that satellite imagery has provided.The same can be said for people engaged in the petroluem & mineral resources sector.
It must be noted that a manned mission is still being debated & not finalised unlike in China,where symbolism matters.
PS-do read up on India's space programme b4 commenting baselessly.
Two Presidents who are space engineers
____________________________________________
Ukraine President Visits ISRO Satellite Centre
(Oct 05, 2002) The President of Ukraine, Mr Leonid Kuchma, visited the ISRO Satellite Centre this morning (October 5, 2002). He was accompanied by ministers and senior officials of Ukraine. Mr S Kipgen, Ambassador of India to Ukraine and other senior officials of Ministry of External Affairs of Government of India were also present.
Dr K Kasturirangan, Chairman, ISRO, received the Ukraine President and briefed him on the Indian space programme. The President of Ukraine, who is also a space engineer and who was involved in the design of rockets, evinced keen interest in the Indian space programme. He appreciated the efforts of India in the development of space technology and its applications to various national tasks.
It may be noted that India and Ukraine signed a cooperative agreement in 1994 for the peaceful uses of outer space. ISRO and the National Space Agency of Ukraine are the coordinating agencies for this agreement.
The President of Ukraine also visited the spacecraft integration facilities at ISRO Satellite Centre and the space exhibition before his departure from the Centre.
http://asia.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=9431
DR. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM
PRESIDENT OF INDIA
Born on 15th October 1931 at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, specialized in Aeronautical Engineering from Madras Institute of Technology. Dr. Kalam made significant contribution as Project Director to develop India’s first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) which successfully injected the Rohini satellite in the near earth orbit in July 1980 and made India an exclusive member of Space Club. He was responsible for the evolution of ISRO’s launch vehicle programme, particularly the PSLV configuration. After working for two decades in ISRO and mastering launch vehicle technologies, Dr. Kalam took up the responsibility of developing Indigenous Guided Missiles at Defence Research and Development Organisation as the Chief Executive of Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP). He was responsible for the development and operationalisation of AGNI and PRITHVI Missiles and for building indigenous capability in critical technologies through networking of multiple institutions. He was the Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and Secretary, Department of Defence Research & Development from July 1992 to December 1999. During this period he led to the weaponisation of strategic missile systems and the Pokhran-II nuclear tests in collaboration with Department of Atomic Energy, which made India a nuclear weapon State. He also gave thrust to self-reliance in defence systems by progressing multiple development tasks and mission projects such as Light Combat Aircraft.
As Chairman of Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) and as an eminent scientist, he led the country with the help of 500 experts to arrive at Technology Vision 2020 giving a road map for transforming India from the present developing status to a developed nation. Dr. Kalam has served as the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, in the rank of Cabinet Minister, from November 1999 to November 2001 and was responsible for evolving policies, strategies and missions for many development applications. Dr. Kalam was also the Chairman, Ex-officio, of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SAC-C) and piloted India Millennium Mission 2020………………..
http://presidentofindia.nic.in/scripts/presidentprofile.jsp
The US is far more advanced than India yes but dont count on it remaining so forever. That gap is narrowing and also remember that we cannot generalize India. There is an India of poor people who dont have food. But there is also an India thats not poor at all and has tremendous aspirations. Its a BIG place. So a democratic govt has to satisfy all its constituencies. The poor need food but the middle classes and scientific community aspire for grand challenges. They all are part of India and there are more people in the middle class today than the poor.
So poverty allieviation is a priority but scientific advancement is also a priority.
India is posturing to demonstrate to Pakistan their technical prowess, this has more to do with defense and perceptions of India's enemies than some quest for scientific knowledge.
This has nothing to do with pakistan though it does have defence implications. Unlike the impression in the western world , Indians dont consider pakistan when planning projects like this. Everything that happens in india should not be seen as posturing vis-a-vis Pak. A lot of these projects are as result of legitimate Ambition of a large number of Indians who believe that they can and should be world leaders in science and hitech. When you have such aspirations then you dont compare yourself with chickenshit countries like Pak. If anything I think many Indians think of the US as the benchmark they want to eventually exceed. Case in point : Last year I read a book by an EX Indian COAS titled
" Writing on the Wall: India Checkmates America 2017 " .
It talks of war games in which the US enters a India Pak war from the Pak side and India has to fight both.
Very interesting read indeed and if you have read that book then you will see this article in a very different light believe me.
"Writing on the Wall: India Checkmates America 2017 "
This is the kind of fantasy which politically juvenile countries engage in. For some reason they find it more enticing to engage in a "Let's beat America!" dream than to turn to the hard work of developing their country in a responsible way. Well, if some Indian crazies want to indulge their fantasies, why not? As long as they don't hurt anyone!
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