# Congratulations, India! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 24, 2014, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-india/699412 "2014-09-24T06:01:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-india/699412/21 "2014-09-26T02:15:38Z")
> [@MilTan](#): > > Eh. There’s no rule that a country must address all its ills before pursuing any other activities. Also, the idea that money should be spent elsewhere is wrong headed. Developing a space program means developing an engineering and scientific infrastructure. It means investment in Universities. It means investing in the same types of people who may address other more Earth based problems. In order to get one good rocket scientist, you are going to have to educate a bunch of people. You choose one, but what do the others end up doing? They will figure out how to make better roads, farms, or hospitals. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-india/699412/22 "2014-09-26T02:41:51Z")
> [@MilTan](#): > > Eh. There’s no rule that a country must address all its ills before pursuing any other activities. true there’s no rule. But sanitation is about as basic as it gets. The current Prime Minister of India has set a goal of 2019 to get rid of public defecation. Call him crazy if you like but Gandhi thought it more important than independence. > [@MilTan](#): > > The US started sending men into space while a substantial fraction of our population was basically not allowed to _vote_. The last group to gain the vote was women and that was 1920. The percentage of black voters [hasn’t changed since the 60’s](http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/historical/a1-congressional.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-india/699412/23 "2014-09-26T02:54:34Z")
Nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![truthSeeker2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-india/699412/24 "2014-09-26T18:12:03Z")
> [@bldysabba](#): > > The conflation of these two issues strikes me as mean spirited. I can only hope you have a better attitude when people are being nice to each other IRL. Going up to someone who’s gotten a compliment for a nice haircut and going “Aha. Now if only you can lose the 30 extra pounds” would be quite jerkish don’t you think? ISRO has long been trying to expand it’s commercial capabilities, where they can help launch satellites for other countries and probably earn contracts for building new satellites too. Conducting these kind of operations will help build confidence in potential customers. The “money could have been used for poor” would be a semi decent point if ISRO was not a profit making body. the way to eradicate poverty is not through distributing freebies, but creating wealth (besides govt. actually doing what its supposed to do), and ISRO is doing that very well. ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2014, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-india/699412/25 "2014-09-26T19:58:12Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Not really sure what’s challenging about a septic system. I don’t think you appreciate either the scale or the complexity involved in installing sewage systems in 593,731 villages spread out over an entire country with fairly poor governance. Supply of infrastructure at that scale is difficult. To make things much tougher though, in many of those villages people would have little or no experience using a toilet, and thus the demand side of the equation is also weak. Toilet habits are tough to break. For evidence, go see the responses in the bidet threads 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2014, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-india/699412/26 "2014-09-30T01:25:20Z")
Really nice picture of Mars with a dust storm ‘brewing’ at one of the poles > **[Your MOM Goes to Mars](https://slate.com/technology/2014/09/mom-goes-to-mars-full-disk-view-of-the-red-planet.html)** > > Holy. Ares! ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-india/699412/27 "2014-10-02T18:46:31Z")
India officially calls MOM a “technology demonstrator”, which means there is not going to be much scientific return from MOM. The rovers and various other probes have provided much hard data and original science. MOM is not going to add very much not already known about Mars. Its value is as a proof of concept that Indian science and technology can achieve a lot with very little. India really needs to get the [GSLV](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geosynchronous_Satellite_Launch_Vehicle) going and launch planetary probes with real scientific potential. I am sure India will get there, in time. ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-india/699412/28 "2014-10-02T19:17:37Z")
> [@mandala](#): > > India really needs to get the [GSLV](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geosynchronous_Satellite_Launch_Vehicle) going 😕 India already has, and since you linked the article, you should know this. Earlier this year the GSLV with an indigenously built cryogenic engine(which had failed in earlier attempts) successfully put a 2000 kg satellite into earth orbit. ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-india/699412/29 "2014-10-06T07:59:03Z")
> [@bldysabba](#): > > 😕 India already has, and since you linked the article, you should know this. Earlier this year the GSLV with an indigenously built cryogenic engine(which had failed in earlier attempts) successfully put a 2000 kg satellite into earth orbit. The GSLV is not a mature launch platform yet, despite the success you talk about, above. It needs a lot more testing and validation before it can reliably put a full-fledged planetary probe into orbit. There was a reason India chose the PSLV for the Mars mission and not the GSLV. ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-india/699412/30 "2014-10-06T09:41:30Z")
> [@mandala](#): > > The GSLV is not a mature launch platform yet, despite the success you talk about, above. It needs a lot more testing and validation before it can reliably put a full-fledged planetary probe into orbit. There was a reason India chose the PSLV for the Mars mission and not the GSLV. I took the phrase “get the GSLV going” more literally than that. My mistake. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-india/699412.md?page=1)