India launches spacecraft to Mars

[Bosonic]

Source: BBC

India has successfully launched a spacecraft to the Red Planet - with the aim of becoming the fourth space agency to reach Mars.

The Mars Orbiter Mission took off at 09:08 GMT from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on the country's east coast.

The head of India's space agency told the BBC the mission would demonstrate the technological capability to reach Mars orbit and carry out experiments.

The spacecraft is set to travel for 300 days and reaching Mars orbit in 2014.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24729073

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[TexasTowelie]

1. Great, now we have an idea where the next jobs will be outsourced!

[Zeke L Brimstone]

2. I laughed

Not PC, I know, but

[IronLionZion]

3. We should act now to get Martians to unionize

we don't want them exploited!

[samsingh]

4. the largest Democracy in the world does something tremendous

and shows success that all countries will benefit from and we get cheap shots in response. On DU yet. Sad.

[cosmicone]

6. Ain't that the truth? n/t

[smitra]

7. Ditto.

Read the comments on the BBC website quoted by the OP (1370 at last count) if you have time. Tells you that at least some people - of European origin/heritage I assume - really can't stand a non-Western culture/civilization's accomplishing something they consider to be their 'preserve'.

[joshcryer]

9. EU's racism is actually a shocking thing for me.

It really blew me away when I learned a lot of EU is racist.

[cosmicone]

10. The worst and most appalling comments on BBC

Times of India and other sites come from the descendants of a certain jealous country. They use western sobriquets to hide behind.

[joshcryer]

8. Thanks, Sam.

Comforting someone else noted that. It's early yet, I'm sure that original poster will get hell for their joke. At least, I hope. Maybe an apology will be forthcoming.

[closeupready]

11. LOL - subsidized by UK taxpayers.

[marble falls]

13. How so and how much?

[cosmicone]

14. Definitely better than the

neighboring country which takes billions in aid and has nothing but terrorism to show for it.

By the way, India refused all foreign aid from Britain long time ago.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2096628/British-foreign-aid-India-tells-Britain-dont-need-peanuts-offer-us.html

It is the British officials who BEGGED India to accept the aid. Read the link.

[smitra]

16. Comments like the one you are responding to are EXACTLY the kind of bigoted response ...

..we are surprised to see in this forum. For the edification of the poster, he/she should note that the nominal (not PPP) GDP of India is $ 1.8 trillion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29), so $ 500 million in aid from the UK amounts to amount 0.02% of GDP. No wonder the Govt. of India told the UK to keep it.

[cosmicone]

17. It is even more nefarious

in the light of a few facts.

The aid was supposed to make India buy British fighter jets worth $13 billion. The whole aid issue came to the forefront when India rejected the Typhoon in favor if the French made Rafale jets.

Some said it was an IOU to France when France threatened a veto of a joint US/UK sanctions resolution when India conducted nuclear tests in 1998 but most experts agree that Rafale is a much better fighter than the Typhoon.

UK has been at the forefront of trying to keep India down. The whole NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group) was a British creation after the 1974 nuclear test by India - to prevent India from developing nuclear weapons and technology. Also notwithstanding the fact that Britain looted India's wealth over 150 years of colonial rule and those funds allowed capital expenditures that make UK an industrial power today. The inflation adjusted value of wealth looted from India is several thousand times the paltry aid given since independence.

[smitra]

18. You said it.

Consider that one of the first British seafarers to India commented that the splendor of the Mughal capital, Agra, in the early 17th century would make the London of the time look like a Shropshire village.

Then consider this....The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London has an exhibit on the East India Company which contains a quote from John Evelyn, diarist, dated 18 December 1682, where he describes how sold the stock he acquired for GBP 250 for GBP 750 (a large amount at the time) and felt "blessed by God" as a result. We all know how the East India company made its money.

[samsingh]

20. many of the Western countries have been trying to keep India down

through ignoring terrorism in India for decades.

[marble falls]

21. That was what I thought.

[Marrah_G]

5. Good for them

Imagine what the worlds scientists could accomplish if they were all allowed to work together. The possibilities are staggering.

[Swede Atlanta]

12. I applaud them........

for continuing to develop new technologies and their quest for knowledge.

Having been to India several times I do wish they would focus more on eliminating the horrific poverty. We are not ones to brag given the number of Americans living in poverty but from a pure magnitude perspective our problems are inconsequential to the poverty and squalor in India.

The middle class is growing in India and that is a good thing but I don't know what type of progress they are making in addressing the widespread poverty.

[Judi Lynn]

15. I hope India's Mars mission will be successful. Best wishes. n/t

[christx30]

19. I think this is

absolutely amazing. Go India! I wish them luck!