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Post by dgriffin on Aug 30, 2009 9:09:06 GMT -5
 India loses radio contact with moon orbiter NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Indian space scientists were scrambling Sunday to regain contact with their unmanned moon mission a day after they abruptly lost contact with the orbiter. System failures on the Chandrayaan-I apparently led to loss of contact, said S. Satish, a spokesman for the Indian Space Research Organization. However, Chandrayaan-I had met most of its scientific objectives by providing "large volume of data," the space organization said. In 312 days, it completed more than 3,400 orbits around the moon, according to the space organization. Earlier this year, the Indian government increased the federal budget for space research to about $1 billion from $700 million.www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/08/30/india.moon.mission/OK, the day is young and maybe I haven't shaken the curmudgeonly cobwebs from my head yet, but the next time my TV set tries to appeal to me with images of starving children on the Subcontinent, I'll remember that budget item. |
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Post by rrogers40 on Aug 31, 2009 22:47:24 GMT -5
O that's what that thing that landed in my backyard is.
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Post by Ralph on Sept 1, 2009 3:37:51 GMT -5
I heard they tried calling the Chandrayaan-I Support center for help...... .....all they got were recordings of themselves.... ....on the Verizon hotline!!!!  |
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Post by chris on Sept 1, 2009 6:06:57 GMT -5
Hey they got their priorities. Besides any country that worships a cow...........ooooops wait a minute......where would I get my ice cream...never mind.
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Post by concerned on Sept 1, 2009 9:50:01 GMT -5
Mother Teresa must be rolling in her grave. She used to pick worms out of the people she picked up in the streets.
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Post by dgriffin on Sept 1, 2009 16:44:48 GMT -5
OK, I know I started this, but all righteous indignation aside, a case can be made for an expensive space program mounted by a third world country. When such a large percentage of your population lives in penury and you're trying to find ways to bring them up into the 21st century and higher levels of income, instead of taking a hundred years to follow the old route of success from agriculture to world-class economy (whatever that means), you can pick a few tried and true (relatively) instant winners like technology and customer service and plow your investments into them. India has been trying to make a mark (and has been successful) in engineering, science and medicine by utilizing the brains of their top echelon of students and academics. Their successes (which cost money) promote interest and bring business into their country. I believe an Indian professional would tell you only in that way can the country hope to raise the standard of living of most of its citizens. He or she might continue by saying the choice is between the poor that Save The Children will hopefully take care of (you fat Americans!) and investment in the future to save many more millions.
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Post by clarencebunsen on Sept 2, 2009 5:57:17 GMT -5
Early in my career, my knock on Indians with PhD's in Electrical Engineering was that they were extremely knowledgable but lacked the understanding of which was the working end of a screwdriver. They have long had an excellent educational system capable of producing world class mathematicians & theoretical physicists but seemed to lack the technicians needed for a modern society.
Perhaps this program will allow them to develop that capability. India vs China could be the 21st century equivalent the US vs the USSR. Do the math, they each have the potential to have more honors student than we have students.
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