India's space hopes soar as capsule returns to Earth

Capsule splashes down in Bay of Bengal after 11 days in orbit, boosting plans for lunar mission in 2008.

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[count0--2008]

Food?

I'm possibly the biggest supporter of space exploration there is. But in India's case, perhaps they might want to work on feeding their people first.

[YankeePoodle]

food

I disagree with you, for any country to make a forward leap esp. in this day and age should have multi-facet development.

The fact of the matter is that India produces excesses of Food than its population can consume but thanks to the beauracratic incompetence, good amount goes rotten in the storage and lack of leadership in the distribution system is the worst culprit than Indian Space Program. ISRO (Indian Space and Research Organization) works on fraction of the budget of any respected Space Agency.

[perogi21]

ahem...

If we are reading your post correctly, then I believe the US needs to stop working on space exploration before we can feed all of our people too. There are a lot of people going hungry in our country, and not just the ones you step over on the sidewalks.

[lingsun]

What a waste.

What's the point? India is a third-world country. They'd be better off spending the money on infrastructure.

[dfmrrd]

and where does the money for Poor come from?

As the Prime Minister of India has well stated, that the only way to eradicate poverty in India is to create wealth by GROWING INDIAN ECONOMY.

At the same time, country wants to develop indigenous technologies that can enable it compete more effectively in Global market.

ISRO's budget is mere $600Million which is just a fraction of its $900Billion economy (GDP).

[Phillerr]

What a pride..

China is a third world country too, recently gain wealth largely based on foreign capital and foreign market. China is wasting its money on space program with 50-year old technology, that is begged, burrowed and stole. This is nothing new, it just adds anxieties in the world, space race, space debris and space weaponization.

[pksiva]

Clearing some misconceptions

I thought I will clear some misconceptions regarding the state of affairs in India for the benefit of people unaware of the realities in India.

There is no food shortage in India, and food, in excess of what is required, is currently being produced. For any forward-thinking country, in order to attain sustainable progress, it is imperative to realize achievements in all spheres. It is a classic red herring argument to say "Why build rockets and reusable launch vehicles when you can use the money to feed people?". With good planning, efficient implementation and entrepreneurial outlook in all spheres only can any nation escape clutches of poverty, illiteracy and other ills, and establish itself as a worthy contender in various fields.

Thanks for listening to my rant...

[dondarko]

here is a proposal for all countries...

that have space programs. Lets make our planet earth a stable society where pollution is a thing of the past, and so are wars, poverty and other plagues invented by human being. Then we can start exploring space. There is no point in exploring and eventually colonizing space if we are going to bring the same old ways of doing things like depleting natural resources and in the process making planets unusable and unlivable(like we are currently on a fast track to do so), and war. We can only explore space once we solve our own problems. Otherwise we're gonna be idiots up there, and believe me there have to be other intelligent beings out there(ahem, bacteria that meticulous NASA managed to kill on Mars while they were looking for little green men and neglecting that fact that life may exist on a smaller scale than say a goat).

We're such a pathetic thing in this universe.

[Commander_Spock]

Here is another "proposal for all countries"...

... let us see what the combined efforts of all the countries that are involved in space exploration make of the existing supersonic technologies to to give the world a "quieter and cheaper" CONCORDE before jumping further off into space travel. Duh! This makes a lot of sense; does it not!

[YankeePoodle]

Earth

I totally agree with much you have said. Many people think Mars can be easily colonized. There is no other planet in the Solar System, that is conducive to life forms know to Humans (incl. Humans). The univerese beyond earth is savage. Venus with its Sulphuric Acid Clouds, Mars with its exposure to Solar Radiation and lack of atmostphere. There is no hope for humanity beyond Earth, atleast for the foreseeable future.

I hope we can take care of the planet by changing our life-styles and conserve this lovely planet.

Cheers!!!

[extinctone]

Proposal is prepostorous

Your "proposal" is the same old BS, you want the world to solve all it's existing problems before trying to explore anything new. That's always been a recipe for stagnation and decay because it's always been true that exploring new things and new frontiers is what stimulates ideas and solutions to existing problems.

[crainial]

Heh

Arguing on the internet is like running the special olympics; even if you win, you're still retarted

[mh20932]

That is a truly hilarious comment

coming from someone who can't spell "retarded". Or, apparently, "cranial".