Questionning the Mars Mission

Now the count down begins. The awe-inspiring and challenging scientific expedition to MARS to explore the possibilities of life over there. More specifically Mangalyaan will also search Mars for methane, a key chemical in life processes on Earth that could also come from geological processes.  As per the ISRO official report, India’s ambitious mission to Mars- 'Mangalayan' will lift off from the spaceport at the Sriharikota - the four-stage Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C25) at 2.38 p.m. on November 5. This 1,350-kg Mars Orbiter  in a long, elliptical earth-orbit will be in 300-day odyssey to reach the Red Planet.

If we achieve the mission, India will be decorated with an accolade 'the first Asian nation to reach the Red Planet' -- probably it will be blow to China. This attempt makes India the fourth country or group of countries to reach the Red Planet, after the Soviet Union, United States and Europe. A few decades ago USSR sent human beings to MARS that really surpassed USA and some critics note that this space war is to dominate China in the space. 

In 2008-09, the Indian Space and Research Organisation successfully launched a lunar orbiter, Chandrayaan-1, which discovered evidence of water on the moon. Mangalyaan was developed from technology tested during the Chandrayaan mission.

The cost of the Mars mission was about Rs.460 crores, only around Rs.4 per Indian. In response to the criticism of wasting huge amount for this mission - Dr. Radakrishnan opined - "We want to tell this country that this is a complex mission.”. Yes. it is too complex to explain and substantiate.

While India in different grimes and grisly - the question "is this the priority for India?' cannot be ignored. US had recently gave up a plan 'Moon Mission' in the wake financial crunch. India's CAD is very high, deficit, depreciation and stagflation and various other issues  raising serious concerns. At the same time MARS MISSION has no direct influence on enhancing our information or communication development.

Los Angels Times reports that "Civic groups have criticized the cost, in a country where hundreds of millions of people still lack toilets. “I think it’s so strongly symbolic of an extremely unequal society,” said Harsh Mander, director of New Delhi’s Center for Equity Studies, a think tank, and a former advisor to the prime minister on social issues. “We continue to have something like 230 million people who sleep hungry every night, and millions die because they can’t afford healthcare. Yet these are not issues that cause outrage.”

Another most gruesome fact is that  so far, no country has a record of a fully successful mission in the first time. More than half the world's attempts to reach Mars - 23 out of 40 missions - have failed, including missions by Japan in 1999 and China in 2011.

I support our scientific expeditions - but this is not the time to go ahead with such projects despite this the best time for Mars Mission Scientifically.

Let's wait for a awesome result from ISRO to be at the acme of world.