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India: Manned Mission to Moon in 8 years
by
Chris Bergin
on 09 May, 2007 14:53
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#1
by
Celeritas
on 09 May, 2007 15:21
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Looks like they're on about the same time schedule. Anyone have any odds on India beating Orion into orbit?
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#2
by
Mark Max Q
on 09 May, 2007 15:24
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Well they will if they manage it in eight years. Question is IF they can do it within 8 years.
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#3
by
imfan
on 09 May, 2007 15:54
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Am I the only one who does not understand the title of of the article?
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#4
by
Chris Bergin
on 09 May, 2007 16:12
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imfan - 9/5/2007 4:54 PM
Am I the only one who does not understand the title of of the article?
Maybe, nothing wrong with the headline, but it's misleading when you read the article.
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#5
by
Joffan
on 09 May, 2007 16:16
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imfan - 9/5/2007 9:54 AM
Am I the only one who does not understand the title of of the article?
It's easy if you speak journalese (Indian journalese, an intriguing dialect). There's a manned miision proposed, that isn't sanctioned by government, is not to the moon, with an eight-year timescale that hasn't started. I think the mission is to space, presumably LEO, but it may in fact be to the grocery store. Stay tuned.
Anyone know what crore is, as in Rs 9500 crore? Speculation: a million. At about 40R/$ that would be a $250m manned space shot... very cheap for the first trip.
Aha. Wikipedia tells me a crore is 10 million, in India at least. So the manned program cost estimate is about $2.5bn.
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#6
by
cz77
on 09 May, 2007 19:18
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Nice to know that there will be a curry restaurant waiting for when NASA gets there.
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#7
by
clongton
on 09 May, 2007 19:50
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cz77 - 9/5/2007 3:18 PM
Nice to know that there will be a curry restaurant waiting for when NASA gets there.
Are you a pessamist or a realist?
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#8
by
Pete at Edwards
on 09 May, 2007 21:22
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China will beat us both anyway. They've been silent of late.
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#9
by
maskims
on 09 May, 2007 21:23
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Chris Bergin - 9/5/2007 6:12 PM
imfan - 9/5/2007 4:54 PM
Am I the only one who does not understand the title of of the article?
Maybe, nothing wrong with the headline, but it's misleading when you read the article.
Very misleading indeed... Getting a man on the moon within 8 years would be more ambitious than the US in 61, since all India has today is a not-efficient-yet GEO launcher.
Now I keep hearing India has big plans for manned space exploration, and I can't wait for them to communicate more on that, because most of what I've heard so far is rather vague or projecting very far in the future. But if a gaganaut (I really hope they keep this word) is to go to space within 8 years, my wishes should come true !
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#10
by
RedSky
on 09 May, 2007 22:06
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I hope the ISRO didn't provide the newspaper with that lunar image. That's not "the Moon"... that's Saturn's moon Enceladus. You can tell right away because of the weird "tiger stripe" scratches to the south from where outgassing of water has been seen going on by the Cassini orbiter.
http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/dustgroup/images/Enceladus.jpg
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#11
by
nacnud
on 09 May, 2007 22:27
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A crore is 10^7 or 10 million. Rather than going up in multiples of 10^3 as in the west (million (10^3) billion (10^6) trillion (10^9) etc) their systems goes up in 10^2 (crore (10^7) Arawb (10^9) Kharawb (10^11) etc)
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#12
by
Celeritas
on 09 May, 2007 22:35
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RedSky - 9/5/2007 5:06 PM
I hope the ISRO didn't provide the newspaper with that lunar image. That's not "the Moon"... that's Saturn's moon Enceladus. You can tell right away because of the weird "tiger stripe" scratches to the south from where outgassing of water has been seen going on by the Cassini orbiter.
A manned mission to Enceladus must be next for the Indians after they tackle Earth's moon. If the extraordinarily ambitious timetable inferred from title of the above article is to be believed, India should put a man on Enceladus by about 2020.
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#13
by
Norm Hartnett
on 10 May, 2007 18:06
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It seems entirely possible, perhaps probable, that the next manned space race won't be US vs. Russia or US vs. China but India vs. China. Given each countries idiosyncratic press it should make for some interesting reading.
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#14
by
imcub
on 10 May, 2007 19:15
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Norm Hartnett - 10/5/2007 11:06 AM
It seems entirely possible, perhaps probable, that the next manned space race won't be US vs. Russia or US vs. China but India vs. China. Given each countries idiosyncratic press it should make for some interesting reading.
Ding ... Ding ... Ding ... We have a winner. The two largest 'state' populations, growing in economic strength, looking for ways to inspire national pride and to gain respect in the industrial world ...
I guess I'm more than a little egocentric believing that the US will be involved in the next space race, but Norm ... I believe you might be correct.
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#15
by
spacex
on 29 Oct, 2008 20:08
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#16
by
tappa
on 31 Oct, 2008 02:41
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#17
by
Patchouli
on 31 Oct, 2008 02:52
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They have a lot to do before they can reach the moon but so does China.
1. They need to first put people in LEO and recover them safely.
2. Show they can perform rendezvous and docking.
3. Design an EVA suit or purchase one and demonstrate a few EVAs.
4. Fly an LV with an EELV class payload or better yet an HLV with 50 to 70T being desirable targets.
5. If they don't go the HLV route demonstrate they launch can EELV class vehicle once every few months and construct propellant depots and perform LEO assembly.
China has managed number 1 and the first part of 3.
The GSLV is no where near powerful enough for the job it's barely powerful enough to launch a Gemini type mission which can only demonstrate goals 1, 2, and 3 but not 4 or 5.
The GSLVIII just might be able to pull it off in the 20T configuration of course this means no vehicles like Orion or landers like the LSAM even the Apollo LEM might be too heavy when you consider it has to be sent to TLI.
The Apollo LEM is light enough that GSLV III can lift it into LEO and a modern version would likely weigh even less then 14.5MT but the EDS to send it to the moon is probably going to be heavier then 20T.
So their mission might be more along the lines of something like the Langley light lander for their LM and maybe a vehicle like a modernized Gemini with a docking tunnel and habitation module or something similar to Spacex's Dragon for the mother ship.
Though if they use storable propellants for the EDS or can demonstrate two or more launches in very short secession then they could either fuel the EDS in orbit or split the EDS in two launching the fuel and oxidizer tanks separately.
This would eliminate the the TLI payload bottle neck caused by being stuck with a 20T EDS and allow for even an Apollo class lunar mission.
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#18
by
the_roche_lobe
on 31 Oct, 2008 04:41
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Of course they might decide to do a 'Zond' style free return trajectory first. Despite the 'stunt' objections that would follow, that might fulfill the political ambitions of 'going to the moon with humans' without a lot of the cost, and it would be safer.
China, obviously is well ahead in this endeavor.
P
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#19
by
hop
on 31 Oct, 2008 05:18
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The actual statement appears to refer to a first Indian manned flight by 2015. Not a manned lunar flight by that time.
A manned flight by 2015 seems like a very reasonable goal to me. A lunar mission in that time is obviously unrealistic, and almost certainly the product of reporters imaginations.
