India Acknowledges Lunar Lander Crashed

[zeta0134]

Condolences on the failed landing. That it got as far as it did continues to be a fantastic achievement. Space is hard. Good to hear that enough data was recovered to establish the cause of failure; that means it wasn't a total loss. Nothing to do but learn from it and move forward.

[dreamcompiler]

Landing on the moon is very hard.

Landing on the moon without a human at the controls is even harder.

[Aperocky]

That's arguable, the Soviets landed a rover in 1970 and it worked for about a year. Nobody regarded that as a greater achievement than American landings on the moon - and probably because it isn't.

[trothamel]

The first lunar landings were in 1966, and didn't have computers on board. Certainly, it was possible to land without a human or even a computer.

Not having a human to support or return massively simplifies the process.

[manojlds]

But I guess landing on the human with a human with intention of bringing the human back is much much harder.

[mfrw]

It takes courage to admit failure. Appreciate the transparency.

[roberson87]

They were literally coerced to making the admission by lawmakers, if it weren't for them they'd still be "analysing data".

[ganitarashid]

Being from India myself, I always believed these funds would be better spent on helping the less fortunate.

[carlsborg]

No my friend. On the contrary, this is how a country becomes rich. Space missions have hundreds and thousands of parts and services. If even half of these are sourced locally this gives a boost to the industry meaning a richer economy with more scientists and engineers and more engineering jobs. And when you have a rich competitive economy, you can fund a social safety net.

[tehlike]

I suggest you read this: http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/08/why-explore-space.html?...

[rishav_sharan]

Being from India as well, i think that sentiment does more harm

[trianglem]

That’s a naive perspective. A few million dollars chafes very little in any other space.