Why Mars is Right for India
The Asian superpower is growing past, not ignoring, its poverty problem by launching to Mars
At 14:38 India Standard Time on 5 November, 2013, India successfully launched its Mars Orbiter Mission Spacecraft from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, about two hours north of Chennai on the east coast of the country.
Assuming all goes well, the craft will soar through the heavens for 300 days before reaching Martian orbit in late 2014. When it does, it’ll hunt for traces of the methane gas that’s been seen both by other orbiting spacecraft and by telescopes on Earth. More recently, however, Nasa’s Curiosity rover failed to detect any methane in its analysis, so it’s hoped that the Indian craft will have more luck solving the mystery. It’ll also examine how fast Mars’ thin atmosphere is escaping to outer space.
But the country has come in for criticism across the world for spending the equivalent of $72 million (£45 million) on launching a space rocket when it’s ranked eighth in the world for prevalence of childhood malnutrition and when more than 600 million suffered for two days in a recent power cut. The Daily Express put the supposed scandal on its front page in August 2012.
Here’s the thing, though. Space travel is worth it. The cumulative benefits to both India and humanity as a whole of pursuing its Mars mission are likely to dramatically outweigh its relatively-minor costs. Here’s how and why.
First, let’s look at the cost issue. India’s Mars Orbiter Mission costs $72 million, compared with $2.5 billion for Curiosity in 2011, $813 million for Nasa’s Mars Observer, around $1.3 billion for China’s space programme, which includes Yinghuo-1, $848 million for Japan’s Nozomi mission, and $80 million for Britain’s Beagle 2, which was designed first and foremost to be low-cost. Those figures aren’t adjusted for inflation, making the actual numbers higher. That makes India’s spacecraft remarkably cheap in the context of historical missions to Mars.
It’s also cheap in the context of the national budget — costing less than a single commercial aircraft. “Really the money involved is tiny compared to other expenditures,” one of India’s best-known voices on science told the Guardian. Isaac Asimov once famously noted this in a letter to a friend, pointing out that citizens of the United States spend as much money on alcohol as the government does on Nasa. Today, the figure is almost four times as much.
Another key financial benefit is promotion of India’s services in launching rockets for other countries. The country had already sent 35 satellites skyward before the Mars Orbiter Mission, and can offset some of the costs of its own spacecraft from future profits it may not have otherwise attracted had India not demonstrated its space prowess.
Then there’s the issue of national pride. The mission was announced by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from the battlements of Delhi’s Red Fort in a national address on 15 August, 2012. Only Russia, the United States and Europe have successfully reached Mars, and none have made it on their first expedition. Those countries and plenty of others have also failed — including, notably, regional rivals China and Japan.
It’s China, in particular, that India is keen to get one up on. The Indian government has invested heavily in its space programme, making it one of the areas where India can realistically best its northerly neighbour. By succeeding in an endeavour that requires an extremely high level of technical skill, India hopes it can expand its influence in the region.
It hasn’t failed to catch the notice of its rival. While both countries denied the emergence of an Asian space race, an editorial in China’s state-run newspaper, the Global Times read: “India has an ambitious goal of leading Asia in this area, especially having an advantage over China.” In an attempt to defend the country’s own record, it said: “China has achieved a leap forward in the development of manned space flight and space station technology. It has already been in advance of India.”
India’s plan may be working. Following the launch, Beijing has called for “joint efforts” to be made, “to ensure enduring peace and sustainable development of outer space.”
Finally, there are the factors that are tough to quantify but may end up having the largest effect of all. Space scientist Yash Pal, a former chairman of the country’s University Grants Commission, told the Associated Press:
“To visit another planet is a fantastic thing, the biggest thing. If you can afford airplanes and war machines you can certainly spend something to fulfill the dreams of young people.”
The Indian Space Research Organisation shows it realises this power by quoting Carl Sagan on its homepage:
“In more than one respect, the exploring of the Solar System and homesteading other worlds constitutes the beginning, much more than the end, of history.”
In 2012, Neil deGrasse Tyson struck similar themes when he testified to the US Senate on why funding NASA was worth the money:
“Everyone feels like tomorrow is something they want to invent and bring into the present. That’s the culture that so many of us grew up with, and that’s the culture that so many of us who read about it want to resurrect going forward. Without this, we just move back to the caves.”
But perhaps the best argument for funding Mars research came from Sagan again, in the “afterthoughts” section of the transcript of conversation with Arthur C Clarke and Ray Bradbury, published as Mars and the Mind of Man.
“[Space exploration] is in financial trouble. Yet by many standards, such missions are inexpensive. Mariner Jupiter/Saturn costs about the same as the American aircraft shot down in Vietnam in the week in which I am writing these words (Christmas 1972). The Viking mission itself costs about a fortnight of the Vietnam war.
“I find these comparisons particularly poignant: life versus death, hope versus fear. Space exploration and the highly mechanized destruction of people use similar technology and manufacturers, and similar human qualities of organization and daring. Can we not make the transition from automated aerospace killing to automated aerospace exploration of the solar system in which we live?”
India has its social problems. So did both the United States and Russia when their space programmes began. By refusing to permit exploration of the heavens until we have our homes in order, we may be depriving ourselves of vital tools to accomplish that task, and simultaneously depriving future generations of a source of tremendous pride, hope and inspiration.
Mankind has always explored the unknown, and space exploration is no different. India has as much right to participate in that unending journey as any other.
