The grand success of the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) is a fitting answer to all the doubting Thomases who criticised the project on various counts, from the scientific to the social. Dubbed by an economist as the “Indian elite’s delusional quest for superpower status”, Mangalyaan rebuts such criticism with the kind of success that should go a long way towards bolstering national confidence. In the 67 years since Independence, India has not had a substantially triumphal moment such as this although the liberation of Bangladesh, and some victories in the sporting arena, particularly in cricket, were seen as incipient indicators of the fulfilling of national ambitions in the international sphere.
Between 1983 and now, Nobel prizes in science, medicine and literature, and for peace, won by resident Indians and persons of Indian origin, have highlighted the transcending of the frontiers of achievement. Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister, had stirred the nation by acknowledging India’s triumph in the World Cup against the odds and against the run of play with a memorable line — “India can do it.” The success of Mangalyaan, certainly far greater than the sporting triumph, does share some similarities with the cricket win as this is also team work of a very high calibre trumping competitors in the international arena, not only with unprecedented triumph on a maiden mission to Mars but also for the stunning economy — about '4 per Indian — with which it was achieved.
Scientific objections about small payloads and a highly elliptical orbit around Mars were not to be dismissed willy-nilly. But what the success means is India will now feel empowered in a cutting-edge area where technology meets science. The tag of being the backroom boys of the IT world could be overcome only by a genuine science and technology achievement of international scale, which is what MOM is, considering only the US, Europe and Russia belonged to the rarefied club of Mars pioneers who could one day be exploring Mars for precious minerals. It is fanciful at this stage to talk of manned missions to Mars even though Isro, flush with success, speaks already of a date in the early 2030s.
There is a lot more ground to cover as MOM has just sent the first pictures back, in a pretty postcard from Mars as it were. One of Mangalyaan’s objectives is to help develop technology for interplanetary missions, although the more immediate focus of the indigenous scientific instruments would be on studying the planet. Mr Radhakrishnan and his team have raised the bar to such heights that meeting expectations would be a huge challenge. The achievement of a Mars orbit is only the first step in space odysseys beyond our imagination.
