Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Chandrayaan-1 Launches Successfully

Chandrayaan-1 has just been successfully launched from ISRO's Sriharikota launch station. I was watching it on TV, and it looked to be a perfect textbook launch, which went off without any hitch. I'd like to make a suggestion for ISRO in the future -- they should include some cameras onboard the launch vehicle itself, so that viewers can see the classic lookdown view from the rocket craft itself as the landscape shrinks below it, and as the stages fall off one by one. That's how others like NASA do it, and ISRO could learn a few such marketing tricks from them, as it tries to gain public support for further funding. Later on, the footage can be edited and slicked up into promotional videos, with rousing patriotic songs, etc. I liked their idea for emblazoning the Indian flag onto the impactor probe that will hit the lunar surface. Technically, we'll be the 4th nation in human history to touch the face of the Moon, after the USA, Russia, and Japan -- we'll even be ahead of China.

17 comments:

nizhal yoddha said...

awesome.

but i agree about the marketing part. have to do more to get the public solidly behind it.

i do hope the boffins are keeping alive the possibility of using the launch vehicles as missiles. perhaps manmohan has given that away to the americans as part of the 'deal' as well, you never know.

nuclear missiles ki jai.

san said...

Well, hopefully India will make progress on its Reusable Launch Vehicle program (flyback booster), which would radically drop the cost of space access.

Gagan said...

I am sure it has externals cameras attached to the vehicle - no reason to think otherwise due to its low-tech requirements. Regardless, I feel really proud for the ISRO guys. Being from Ahmedabad, I know many ISRO and SAC employees, some of them working at a very high level, and am really impressed by their enthusiasm, commitment and sincerety with which they involve themselves with their projects.

Meanwhile, the Reuters is at it again - those low down idiots have to paint this achievement on the canvas of Christian bashing by Hindus and slow economy - buggers don't know that Christians had it coming, and Chandrayaan mission was planned four years ago when no one knew what was coming in terms of economy four years later..

Congrtas, ISRO!

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE49L0HG20081022

san said...

Heh, it's noteworthy to see so many right-wing US conservative sites cheering us on:

Drudge Report

RightPundits

Redstate.com

Hey, ISRO are international heroes of the day! Perhaps it shows everyone else that if a developing country like India can go to space, then all of mankind has a chance to go. Plus, with India helping to rekindle the space race as a new entrant, it will increase the overall pace at which mankind moves out into the heavens.

karyakarta92 said...

On that Yankee conservative thing, I had persistently questioned Newt Gingrich's then deputy in the House about a statement he made about nukes on a college campus, in the immediate aftermath of Pokhran 2 - and he readily conceded India's right to "protect it's people" and contrasted India's democratic credentials with the Jihadi theocracy in Pakistan. It's a pity that Manmoron Singh's toady Gunga Dins did not negotiate from a position of strength

san said...

Here's another set of good comments I liked, from this Australian prof:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/22/2398387.htm?section=world

ANU sounds a lot more sensible than JNU

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Sameer said...

It is a great day for Indians everywhere on the earth.
Jai Hind... My salute to the Indian Scientists and ISRO...

Yes, we can easily convert the lauch vehicles to ICBMs....

Maybe, when the Chandrayan completes its mission after 2 years, we can send a 'missile' to eliminate it like how Chinese did to their satellite, showing that we can think beyond earth and moon...

KapiDhwaja said...

Awesome! I see the unmistakable signs of an emerging 'Great Power'.

Hats off to our underpaid, under-funded scientific community for pulling off such a feat.

san said...

Here's another, totally different video of the Chandrayaan-1 launch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPYCEbQuDVA

This too looks very inspiring.

san said...

Good commentary from CNN's Miles O'Brien:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFgHnaej0w4

san said...

Haha, Washingtonian in the right place at the right time:

http://www.kvi.com/younews/32264224.html

san said...

http://www.upi.com/news/issueoftheday/2008/10/22/India_space_probe_seeks_fusion_power_source_on_moon/UPI-29091224688030/

san said...

From the ISRO site:

http://www.isro.org/brodcast.htm

(only viewable under IE, not firefox)

Tranquil said...

>>>>space access<<<<

Many don't have tranquil access to one's own toilet/bath.

There is a Thamizh saying:

That athlete who can't even retrieve his precious solitary goose perched precariously on his thatched roof , dreams abdulkalamlike.........

TADA off/

Harish said...

Tranquil,
I am sorry to say but you have a tendency to spew off irrelevant rants to every post on this blog.
Rajeev i believe has been easy on your for some reason..

If you cannot or are not capable of enjoying India's achievements and want to talk about toilets and thatched roofs please keep it to u rself..

We are a wounded civilisation, currently ruled by horribly corrupt,inept and deracinated governments.. We need to cherish and enjoy our moments of successes..

FYI..Nation building is a whole lot more than poverty alleviation. To expect governement to solve every problem out there is being stupid and naieve.. ppl need to take responsibility for their lives..including poor people..

witan said...

Tongue in cheek:

There is a lot of "controversy" surrounding the Chandrayaan exercise. First, one US group is saying that the moon is made of blue cheese, and there is no point in looking further to see whether there is anything else of use to humans. Another US group says it is not blue cheese, but green.

Several Muslim clerics in India have objected to Chandrayaan, because the moon is sacred to Islam. Further, they say it is a fake, because the star inside the moon's crescent is not seen in any of the pre-launch pictures of the moon. Govt of India (UPA) has appointed a Commission of Inquiry to go further into the matter.