james_davis_nicoll (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2013-11-13 11:56 am
james_davis_nicoll) wrote2013-11-13 11:56 am
So, reporting on developing nation space programs
Nicked from Jay Lake
India in particular comes in for this 'please justify everything the state does in light of the number of poor people you have' in articles like this; the CBC comments on their Mars probe provided numerous examples that reminded me a lot of the Beat author who was affronted by what he took to be an inappropriate level of education and articulateness in what he saw as an oppressed people when he visited India.
The article falls apart into the usual space exploitation bingo, alas.
This week's launch of India's spacecraft to Mars should not come as a surprise. Five years ago, the country sent a mission to the Moon. And going ahead, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has bolder aims. In 2015, it plans to send a probe to Venus and then another to the Sun. A reusable launch vehicle is already in the works, something that NASA is letting SpaceX develop. These achievements, however, haven't stopped detractors from asking why India is doing this when a third of its people live below the international poverty line.
India in particular comes in for this 'please justify everything the state does in light of the number of poor people you have' in articles like this; the CBC comments on their Mars probe provided numerous examples that reminded me a lot of the Beat author who was affronted by what he took to be an inappropriate level of education and articulateness in what he saw as an oppressed people when he visited India.
The article falls apart into the usual space exploitation bingo, alas.