India has now successfully launched its mission to Mars. The mission was achieved at an extraordinary low price tag of $74 million – one-tenth of what a similar mission would cost NASA or ESA. If this successfully reaches Mars, India will be the first country to have the Mars mission succeed on the first try.
The provocation:
Just as quickly as the rocket sped off, Western journalists who marveled the moon walk in their childhood are engaging Indians in an unnecessary provocation. And these are not coming from cheap tabloids, but reputed media houses. It is not the criticism that rankles, but how crudely they are hitting below the belt.
This author chose to include poverty right in the headline:
“
India Mars Mission to Launch Amidst Overwhelming Poverty.”
Apparently the other countries engaging in scientific research face no poverty. Apparently, space has something to do with poverty.
Next time, when you write about something that Britain did well, sure to remember to randomly incorporate the poverty of Birmingham and the riots of London into the title.
“England wins 10 Olympic golds amidst all the poverty”
“NASA begins its moon mission despite failing to manage hurricane relief”
“European Space Agency launches a satellite despite the inability to control religious riots in Paris and Tottenham, London”.
If this author lived at the time of Renaissance, s/he might have written:
Newton, Michelangelo and da Vinci are wasting time instead of building toilets.Poverty should indeed be an excuse to postpone great achievements. Right?
The double standards:
This event is monumental for us Indians. Imagine how the Americans felt when they first landed on moon. This is a landmark work for Indian scientists and I am filled with pride, just as the 1960s Americans were filled with pride as Armstrong made his stride. Sure, America had plenty of issues in 1969 – Vietnam war, civil rights, inflation, unemployment. But, those negative news could wait another day. It was time to enjoy the moon.
Why India needs a Mars program:
It is exciting for children and teenagers, many of whom might take up a career in science, technology and research. These kids deserve an inspiration in the sky. If we can get a couple of hundred of these kids into hard sciences, the mission would have paid for itself completely.
India needs to prove its technological capabilities as it is building up the technology hub of the future – not just space, but everything. If you could launch a Mars mission at the cost of setting up ERP in an enterprise, you could build anything. There are both direct and intangible effects of this demonstration. This would really benefit India’s tech companies. This is actually rocket science! Again more money.
India needs to spend on research to master the science of the future. NASA had plenty of spin-offs resulting out of its space program that advanced other fields such as medicine, apparel, food and navigation.
We could have made the “Model T” of spacecrafts – inexpensive and quick. The mission was completed in just 14 months and $75 million with little prior expertise. More importantly, the mission got off the ground on the first try. China, Japan and Russia have had to abort Mars missions in the past 2 decades due to launch failures. That is an outstanding engineering feat worth of salute.
These journalists are like the rich bullies who enter a poor man’s house and mock at the books kept by the poor man – “You poor people can’t afford to eat rich food and you can afford to buy more books?”
I just wanna see some discoveries in my lifetime 
not nothin apocalyptic tho 
we bout to drop some knowledge on yall real quick 
" on some peaceful shyt
