Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Will Chandrayan help India economically?

The Chandrayaan mission, at a time of economic belt-tightening, has sparked a national debate about whether a country with hundreds of millions of poor people can afford to play catch-up in the skies. We have to consider the costs for a [manned] moon mission. Even with our low costs it will be billions of dollars. You need a good reason to send someone to the moon for that amount. Yes there is not only good but a sound and strong reasoning for moon mission in India. For achieving a faster rate of growth in the economy uninterrupted supply of energy is a must. As everybody knows, India is now an energy deficient country in terms of its urge for developing the economy into the status of a developed country. The Chandrayaan mission will help India economically. One of India's aims in reaching the moon is the possibility of harvesting helium 3, a key fuel for nuclear fusion. Although fusion is not commercially viable today, scientists say it one day will be, and that once it is a fuel supply will become a problem, as the Earth is believed to have only 15 tonnes of helium 3. The moon is thought to contain up to 5m tonnes. When we develop a technology, initially the cost may be higher. But eventually we can achieve cost effectiveness through the make use of that cutting edge technology. Madras Institute of Development Studies recently calculated that for every rupee spent on the space programme, two were generated in "indirect and direct returns". India is now in the elite club of few countries who has capability to launch satellites commercially. This capability will generate huge income for the economy in future.
Another angle of this question is, by showing the capability of achieving different high profile technologies by our own, sends a signal to the world economy that India has the power to lead the world countries in future. This will boost the confidence on India among the investors worldwide.

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