Last week India sent a satellite into orbit around Mars, with a low-cost, nimble mission that has stunned the world. At $74m over three years, the cost was roughly one-ninth that of the latest (also successful) US mission, which took six years. And in reaching the red planet on its first attempt, India’s space agency succeeded where many other leading powers – including the US, Russia, China and Japan – failed.
To reach Mars, Mangalyaan (or “Mars craft” in Hindi) had initially to execute a complex slingshot trajectory, swinging around the Earth several times to generate speed using the planet’s gravity field. Once it arrived at its destination, its dormant systems and engines were awoken, programming delicate remote manoeuvres while the craft operated on battery power on the planet’s dark side. It was not the shoestring budget alone but also the quality of the pictures transmitted that excited scientists around the world.
Many argue the money would have been better spent on clean water and toilets in what remains in many places a desperately poor country, and they have a point. But in assuming that spending on space is a hobby of rich countries alone, they fail to realise that nation-building entails the memory of heroicachievements such as this one, which will go on to inspire generations of children to pursue careers in pure and applied sciences. The value of this inspiration is incalculable in developing the sort of talent that can disproportionately benefit a nation.