3 Reasons Why ISRO is Better than NASA
Everyone knows that almost all forms of media idolise NASA and showcase it as the GOAT (greatest of all time), but the real truth is that our very own ISRO is way better than both NASA and SpaceX combined, and NASA is actually just a goat (🐐)(I mean the animal).
First of all, let me tell you that comparing these agencies on basis of their missions is impossible due to the humongous difference between the budgets of NASA and ISRO and of course SpaceX.
1. Cost Effectiveness
As everyone knows, ISRO is one of the most cost efficient space agencies of the world. This can be seen in many cases-
NASA;
Case-1: NASA’s first mission to Mars, the Mars observer was launched in September 1992. This mission was a failure as NASA lost all contact with the spacecraft 3 days before it was to reach Mars. The budget of this mission was around Rs. 2,700 cr. In the end, a failure.
Case-2: The Mars Climate Orbiter was launched in December 1998, and reached Mars in September 1999. However, NASA lost contact with the orbiter immediately after arrival, which scientists presumed was due to the spacecraft entering the Martian atmosphere and subsequently burning up. The cost of this mission was Rs. 850 cr.
Case-3: Mariner-3 and Mariner-8 were both supposed to study Mars, but were lost during launch itself, and didn’t get to reach space. The cumulative cost of these missions was Rs. 3300 cr.
In all, the *failed* missions of NASA to Mars have alone cost a whopping Rs. 6,850 cr!
ISRO;
Case-1: The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), a.k.a. Mangalyaan was ISRO’s first attempt at sending a spacecraft to Mars. Actually, it was ISRO’s first attempt at sending a space probe to any celestial body outside the Earth’s sphere of influence.
This mission had faced quite some criticism, especially from western journalists and scientists especially because the launch had to be postponed for a week due to a telemetry ship not reaching Fiji, which had cut India’s launch window quite fine. However, we all know how it ended!
Mangalyaan ended up extending its mission life enormously by providing data for an astonishing 7 years as opposed to its mission life of 6 months.
The cost of this project was a measly Rs. 450 cr, and if you do your calculations properly, it cost only Rs. 7 per km to get Mangalyaan to the Red Planet!
Anyone who fails to spot the difference between the budgets is just plain stubborn.
2. Novel Solutions to Problems
I am again going to take the example of the Mangalyaan mission for this. Originally, MOM was supposed to be launched on a GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle). However, the rocket had failed its test once and was still facing some problems with its cryogenic engine. Waiting for the rocket to get fully developed would have delayed the mission by at least 3 years.
So, the scientists at ISRO had no choice but to use the PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) for Mangalyaan. However, the PSLV did not have enough power to inject the spacecraft directly into the trajectory to Mars.
While other space agencies would have given up if this problem had been faced, ISRO’s scientists found a novel solution that was perfect. It did not use a lot of fuel, and the amount of extra fuel that had to be added could be adjusted without making any major changes to its design.
ISRO decided to use Earth’s gravity itself to propel the spacecraft towards Mars.
Now isn’t that a bright idea!
3. Priorities
See, ISRO has its priorities in place. The main goal of ISRO is to help in the development of the country. So, you might be thinking why ISRO is not developing a reusable rocket, or sending missions to other planets.
This is because, unlike USA, India is not a developed country and is still developing. So, ISRO’s priorities are carrying out missions that actually help in the development of our country, and reducing its dependence on other foreign powers.
For example, ISRO has recently launched its NavIC services, which is basically an alternative to the American GPS. This technology can be used in Aviation as well as providing accurate locations to users (somewhat like Google Maps).
These are the main points that I thought highlighted how ISRO is a better space agency than others. These points just prove that, despite the deficiency of resources, our talented scientists at ISRO don’t stop short of making world records!
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Cheers,
Aarav Iyer
References:
(1) https://medium.com/@suhaildesign/is-isro-the-best-space-agency-in-the-world-19c998ca8b7c
(2) https://mars.nasa.gov/mars-exploration/missions/mariner-3-4/
(3) https://mars.nasa.gov/mars-exploration/missions/mariner-8-9/
(4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_8
(5) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_3
(6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Orbiter_Mission#Launch
(7) https://www.isro.gov.in/MarsOrbiterMissionSpacecraft.html
(9) https://www.isro.gov.in/SatelliteNavigationServices.html
