[anymouse]

Who would have thought that the hardware and software of the computer you are using would be designed and built in India a decade ago, either.

Europeans laughed at the thought of America coming to any consequence beyond raw resources and cheap labor too. Unfortunately we are becoming the new Europeans - if not worse in our retrograde civilization.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Agree that other peoples should not be discounted, but eight years is stretching it. Does India have the potential to be a spacefaring nation? It seems that India can be. But as of this moment, they aren't at the level that a successful round trip to and from the Moon is very plausible in less than a decade.

[Shuttle Shucker]

Well said, happymouse.

But if India pursues the Moon through govt. bureaucracy means like the USA does, it may take them 80 (not 8) years to succeed. When’s the last time the world’s 2nd(?) most populous nation won more than a couple medals at the Olympics? They’re rather laid back over there...

But if India offers competitive prizes to achieve the lunar goal though, then 8 years hardly seems all that unrealistic as long as the prize is adequate. Those folks are studying calculus before they’re even teenagers.

Speaking of lunar prizes, a neat one’s underway this weekend:

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/070511_regolith_challenge.html