First Images from Mangalyaan Probe

[Knight of Clear Skies]

India's Mangalyaan probe has successfully entered Martian orbit and the first images are in.

This is quite an achievement, especially when you consider how many missions to Mars have been complete failures and that it has been put together on a comparatively small budget. The scientific objectives appear to be fairly modest, but one sensor has been designed to track down sources of methane emission.

[Alien 13]

Good news, i think a lot of the extra costs with some agencies is because researchers are often re inventing the wheel each time rather than using a perfectly adequate off the shelf solution some pictures i have seen of assembled satellites etc make me cringe when looking at the construction methods and the state of the poor wiring/connectors used.

Alan

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Big thumbs up to the scientists and engineers behind this project!

[ghostdance]

Adding my congratulations to the India Mars project!  

A first-first as it were

[MattGoo]

It's certainly a great achievement, and something that their country can be rightly proud of. I look forward to seeing further images from it.

[NotSoSuperNova]

One could think that this is the start of things to come. If anyone has the resources and manpower to deliver these kind of projects, I can think of them being second only to China. Still, I do feel that we all benefit as a whole from this kind of work. Good job India! 

[StuartJPP]

Good on them...hopefully more images to come...perhaps a Beagle rescue mission?

If the UK attempted this we would still be in the "Project Planning" Phase, no doubt sandbagged by Health and Safety and PM, tripping over glossy PowerPoint slides and arguing over outsourcing the work to either India or China...way over budget already with nothing to show.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Here's their latest image:

[bingevader]

It's certainly a great achievement, and something that their country can be rightly proud of.

Unless you're one of the millions in abject poverty wondering why all the money has been blasted into space.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Unless you're one of the millions in abject poverty wondering why all the money has been blasted into space.

I can't really say whether it's a good investment or not, but if we're talking about wasting money I'd say there are more deserving targets than science and exploration budgets. £76 million is less than has been spent on Justin Bieber recordings. Personally I'd rather send a probe to Mars than listen to the Bieber, although sending him to Mars might be preferable to either option.

Please bear in mind the money spent doesn't simply vanish, it mostly goes in wages which then trickle down into the rest of the economy.