India's Mission to Mars - Will it lead to a heightened scientific temper of Indians.?
Since the beginning of mankind , the celestial objects in the sky had always been a matter of curiosity for the people. Development in the field of astronomy began since 4th century BC with views of astronomers regarding solar systems coming up . But the modern development in the area have initiated only since 15th century with great contribution from Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton and many other renowned scientists. Each such development had increased the enthusiasm and scientific temper across the world.
Initially the reach to space was not viewed as a development for social benefit , but to answer the curiosity . But with time the benefits of space communication was realised .The rich potential of using satellites for communication , remote sensing, education, defence purpose and navigation systems (GPS) has revived the interest of many.
The forerunners of Indian space mission realised this soon after independence and the efforts of developing a robust Indian space mission began with the initiative efforts of Vikram Sarabhai by establishing TERLS. In 1962, the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) was established .INCOSPAR was later on converted into ISRO ,which is headquartered at Bangalore .
Last 50 years of Indian Space Mission have seen a lot of development ranging from first satellite lauch to development of launch vehicles PSLV and GSLV and Chandrayaan mission .Success of each such mission gave impetus to research and development in this field . The Mars Orbiter Mission of India was the next step to establish India's technical competency in deep space communication .MOM executed at the cost of around $73 million, much lower than $670 million spent by NASA's in sending its MAVEN to Mars. With the success of this mission India has entered in the elite club of countries like US, EU and Russia. But the entire world is still contemplating over how India managed to send its satellite to mars with such meagre resource, when the whole failed to do so in the first attempt . This very question has a lot to prove about India's strength and potential. This achievement obviously has an impact on the morale of Indian researchers, by giving them a feel that they are second to none in the world . With the successful entry of Mars Orbiter into mars orbit , scientific temper of people across India has reached a new level.
Today everyone have started to give a thinking to space technology . I talked to my brother regarding the MOM recently , and his question was how to get into this sector . With many people having little knowledge about space and astronomy and also lack of awareness and guidance available ,the sector sees a meagre population interested in it . The proudness of being world's first country to send its satellite into Mars orbit in its maiden attempt has raised the interest and curiosity of Indian population in space research.
There is a much debate going on for space awareness in schools, so as to arouse the interest of school going students in space sector. The present time is considered to be opportune for this purpose.
Until recently when India had a number of failures in testing its space mission, there was much debate going on for not wasting precious resource of the country in space technology , when we have problems of poverty and unemployment existing in our country. But the successful efforts of ISRO in launching different satellites for communication ,remote sensing , defence and education purpose has given answer to all the questions raised against itself . India is no longer dependent on foreign nations for above purposes .ISRO has also started exporting its satellite launch service to nations like Canada, France, Germany, which helps it to generate revenue and at the same time develop experience. This achievement of ISRO is one of the best in show casing our capability to become self reliant in the significant sectors of economy (like defence, electronics) where we are dependent on foreign nations . Obviously the success of MOM will give a much needed inspiration and confidence to defence and electronics industry for indigenising itself .
Lakhs of Indian students in countries like US , UK , Australia etc for higher studies shows the increased interest of Indian students in high end research. The success of MOM at this time will obviously give the confidence to government for investing in higher education and research in India. The success has truely demonstrated the ability of Indian researches to reach heights, if provided with proper facilities.
With this success lot of research is expected in all sectors of our economy with proper support from the government ,so that in the years to come ,we could become the most advanced nation in the world and prove our real worth and capability to the world.
Abhinav Akash
Related Essay
- What to Expect from India's Second Moon Mission
- Discuss on India's Mission to Mars - Will it lead to a heightened scientific temper of Indians?
- India's Mission to Mars
