What an utter waste of money. Build toilets and roads here instead of sending missions to Mars.
That is such a retarded comment. Just because India spends money on space or space programs doesnt mean its a waste of money. Here are a few reasons why its not a waste of money, but rather an investment, that should be increased as time goes on:
Remote Sensing: Today, India operates one of the largest and most advanced remote sensing satellite constellations of any country on Earth. Weve got satellites pointing at Earth, operating in a system thats accurate down to about one meter. The system is used to monitor and detect resources: it helps find well water in dry regions of India, so far saving the governments drill boring program $100 million. They also use it to project crop yields, the health of fisheries, pest infestations, agricultural diseases, flood forecasting, urban planning, and road construction. Satellites are also used for gathering meteorological datafor understanding daily weather and longer-range climatic patterns, creating an alarm system for disaster preparation (did you know 95% of all deaths from worldwide natural disasters happen in the least developed countries in the world?!?), and providing a system for coordinated search and rescue efforts on land, sea and air.
Tele-education: In 1974, NASA moved its ATS-6 satellite over to India for about a year to undertake a special experiment (considered the largest sociological experiment in history): see what satellites can do if used in the service of broadcasting educational television to poor communities in India. Jointly developed by the U.S. and India, the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) ran for about a year, broadcasting 1,200 hours of programs to 2,400 villages, reaching about five million people. Subjects included science education for kids, agriculture, health, hygiene, family planning, rural development, and literacy. Ground sets to receive the signals were constructed out of chicken wire and signal converters. TV sets were distributed, mainly to schools. 600-800 people crowded around a single television set.
Today, because of investments made to develop autonomy in its aerospace sector, India can launch its own satellites. The countrys EDUSAT program connects about 55000 schools and colleges, reaching 15 million students every year.
Tele-medicine: Indias cities have world-class hospitals and doctors, but what about the roughly 850 million people living in rural villages? This is where the concept of tele-medicine comes in. Tele-medicine brings specialist doctors from cities into villages via satellite communications and mobile telemedicine units, or clinics-on-wheels. These have satellite dishes to connect doctors to patients who cant afford to travel or arent healthy enough to make the journey themselves to the city hospitals. Today, Indian satellites have enabled a network of 382 hospitals with telemedicine capability. Of those 382, 306 are classified as remote/rural/district hospital/health centers, 16 are mobile telemedicine units and these are connected to 60 specialty hospitals. According to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), the mobile units provide medical diagnoses and are extensively used for tele-ophthalmology, diabetic screening, mammography, childcare and community health.
Oh yeah, one more thing. All the software, hardware, communications equipment and satellite bandwidth is funded through the Department of Space and 150,000 people are benefitting from this system every year.
These are just a few examples of why India is investing in space.
If youre like most people, space program = an expensive, potentially (but not always) scientifically rewarding pursuit yielding who-knows-what-gee-wiz facts about the universe, engaged in by highly educated people in wealthy, western nations in an exclusive, secretive effort. And that costs a ton of money, blah blah blah.
Well, it really doesnt cost a lot of money (NASAs budget is about half of one percent of the U.S. governments total spending and it PAYS FOR ITSELF AND THEN SOME, yielding far more return than most government investments because it directly fuels technological innovation, growth of high-tech industries, and economic growth both locally and nationally).
And yes, India also invests in pure scientific and exploration missions, including an upcoming mission to land a rover on the moon, another to investigate Mars, and an initiative to launch people into space
all for less than 10% of their total budget of about $1.3 billion (which, itself, is about 7.5% of NASAs total budget and also about half of one percent of Indias entire government budget).
My points here are that: 1) this is small change and 2) investing in space is a GOOD THING!!! Even, and perhaps especially, in the developing world. It's a good thing economically, scientifically, inspirationally and developmentally.
So saying, build toilets etc instead of space programs, is fuckin retarted.
