Race to the Space
There is suddenly an increased activity and effort to escape the grasp of gravity. Few months back the chinese despite their tight-lipped media and government, publically announced their manned mission to the moon. India too in a fit of competition announced it's manned mission to the moon and later down graded to an unmanned mission (Chandrayan) to the moon. Later, a private company in the US managed a manned flight into space. Now, there is a Race X Prize to the space offering a prize money of 10 million.
Talking about the Indian mission to the moon, I wonder if this is really necessary given the economic state of affairs of the country. We sure should prove to the rest of the world that we are by no means behind them when it comes to space exploration and technology, but at what cost ? The manned mission I heard would cost 2.2 billion dollors, that's like 1/4th of our annual education budget. It's quite apparent that 2.2 billion dollors for the mission would be questioned from every corner. The decision to go ahead with the current un-manned mission is understandable, but, it would be better if such decisions are made with a bigger and better concensus. The unmanned mission is going to cost 500 million, while the american version costed 12 billion :-), no wonder India is the destination for outsourcing Oops ! should I say labour distribution. If India proves a much cheaper and efficient model for such missions, I am sure India can capture the next "Space Exploration/Travel" out-sourcing market. And we should all be proud that India happens to be the first in Asia to launch a exclusive sattelite for educational purposes. Let's keep our fingures crossed untill 2007 to see how Chandrayan-I fares and how we benifit from it. The fact that they are calling it Chandrayan-I indicates that there will be more such missions. It's a bold step but, we have to wait and watch if the objective are acheived.
Coming to the Chinese aspirations, china has big time plans to reach the moon. China has been investing hundreds of millions of dollars in its space program, which has close connections with the country's military. The communist leadership in Beijing regards the space effort as a key indicator of China's rapid development and a focus for national pride. However critics say the program is a waste of money in a country where hundreds of millions of people live below the poverty line, without access to modern health care and education.
But there is something that is driving these folks, there are probably doing this to strike gold first. Sometime back a Russian righlty predicted that there would be a race to claim a source of fuel that is found abundant in the moon, Helium 3. Yes, United States the most fuel hungry country on the face of this earth should also be planning a covert moon mission, but guess they are keeping it under wraps. Now that we have private players into Space exploration and travel it has become a race against time. Who is going to get there first, is the question. I am not sure as how Helium 3 can be transported and effectively used, but if it is done then it is close to having found an un-conventional, non-depleting form of energy.
The Xprize race is on and today the news was out that "Space Ship One" won the prize. SpaceShip one an interesting project funded by non other than our Redmonder "Paul Allen". I get a feeling that Redmond is using Paul Allen here, I really am sceptical about Paul Allen's personal interest in Space Exploration and Travel. MS controlling all those spaceships and space stations would be a nightmare. I am just wondering where we will be 20-30 years from now. Space travel would be like travelling to the Hawai for vacation. Douglas Adams' fantasy would become a reality, hyperspace bypass, Galactic Restaurant etc.. :-)
Talking about the Indian mission to the moon, I wonder if this is really necessary given the economic state of affairs of the country. We sure should prove to the rest of the world that we are by no means behind them when it comes to space exploration and technology, but at what cost ? The manned mission I heard would cost 2.2 billion dollors, that's like 1/4th of our annual education budget. It's quite apparent that 2.2 billion dollors for the mission would be questioned from every corner. The decision to go ahead with the current un-manned mission is understandable, but, it would be better if such decisions are made with a bigger and better concensus. The unmanned mission is going to cost 500 million, while the american version costed 12 billion :-), no wonder India is the destination for outsourcing Oops ! should I say labour distribution. If India proves a much cheaper and efficient model for such missions, I am sure India can capture the next "Space Exploration/Travel" out-sourcing market. And we should all be proud that India happens to be the first in Asia to launch a exclusive sattelite for educational purposes. Let's keep our fingures crossed untill 2007 to see how Chandrayan-I fares and how we benifit from it. The fact that they are calling it Chandrayan-I indicates that there will be more such missions. It's a bold step but, we have to wait and watch if the objective are acheived.
Coming to the Chinese aspirations, china has big time plans to reach the moon. China has been investing hundreds of millions of dollars in its space program, which has close connections with the country's military. The communist leadership in Beijing regards the space effort as a key indicator of China's rapid development and a focus for national pride. However critics say the program is a waste of money in a country where hundreds of millions of people live below the poverty line, without access to modern health care and education.
But there is something that is driving these folks, there are probably doing this to strike gold first. Sometime back a Russian righlty predicted that there would be a race to claim a source of fuel that is found abundant in the moon, Helium 3. Yes, United States the most fuel hungry country on the face of this earth should also be planning a covert moon mission, but guess they are keeping it under wraps. Now that we have private players into Space exploration and travel it has become a race against time. Who is going to get there first, is the question. I am not sure as how Helium 3 can be transported and effectively used, but if it is done then it is close to having found an un-conventional, non-depleting form of energy.
The Xprize race is on and today the news was out that "Space Ship One" won the prize. SpaceShip one an interesting project funded by non other than our Redmonder "Paul Allen". I get a feeling that Redmond is using Paul Allen here, I really am sceptical about Paul Allen's personal interest in Space Exploration and Travel. MS controlling all those spaceships and space stations would be a nightmare. I am just wondering where we will be 20-30 years from now. Space travel would be like travelling to the Hawai for vacation. Douglas Adams' fantasy would become a reality, hyperspace bypass, Galactic Restaurant etc.. :-)
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