[...] It’s a pity that good science requires large amounts of money in today’s world, and we have to direct lots of our money to social causes. [...]

Yeah, like over US$1,500,000,000 on the recent US President Election 2008 campaign!

Now India could have gotten there a lot quicker with the GSLV booster, which is capable of lifting around 2000 kilograms, but the vehicle is not yet as reliable as the PSLV. For one thing it depends on a Russian engine for one stage. For another, at least two of the four launches have had problems with underperformance (the first and the fourth). Additionally the third launch was a total failure, but that could have been due to a manufacturing and not a design defect.

The noteworthy aspect of this mission (assuming it is successful) is not that India orbited a satellite around the moon, but it is that they did it on a very small budget, by repurposing existing and proven rocket components. In a sense, the Indian Space Research Organization is to rocketry as Tata Motors is to inexpensive cars. If they manage to get the larger GSLV booster working reliably and at low cost, they will be in a position to supply both satellites and launch services as some sort of a package deal to interested parties.

Wow! Do you know how refreshing it is to see a mission launched to the Moon again? Our neighbor is fascinating and we have virtually ignored it because some deam it “boring”. No way! Not only is it not boring, but it’s CLOSE! Arriving at your destination only 17 days after launch??? What a treat in this day and age when the average wait time from launch to data return is measured in YEARS. Go India go!

The Apollo missions did this in 3 days, but they first had to heft a helluva lot more propellant into orbit. Hence, in part, the requisite size of the Saturn V. (The rest of the need for such a powerful rocket was the sheer size of the LEM and the CSM – IIRC, a fully-loaded LEM was about 9 tons for Apollos 11, 12, 13 and 14, and about 12 tons for Apollos 15, 16 and 17).

You are indeed being a nasty human being. Good scientific research has no barriers. It just requires a dream, hard work and intelligence. I’m sure my country has enough, if not more of those. It’s a pity that good science requires large amounts of money in today’s world, and we have to direct lots of our money to social causes. I’m sure you would have heard that the entire mission costed about as much as a Large Jet Liner. Let’s all celebrate the achievement both for the county and for science!

The information from this mission will be more public. NASA has two instruments on board, several others are from foreign countries, and NASA is also providing communications assistance. In exchange for this, the information will be shared. India, as well as Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and South Korea, have signed a lunar science agreement with the US, all part of its plan to go back to the Moon. This is a lot more international than the days of Apollo.

“The S-IVB was originally intended to be put into a solar orbit by venting the remaining propellant. However, an extra long burn of the ullage motors meant that venting the remaining propellant in the tank of the S-IVB did not give the rocket stage enough energy to escape the Earth-Moon system and instead the stage ended up in a semi-stable orbit around the Earth after passing by the Moon in November 18, 1969. It finally entered into solar orbit 1971, but returned to Earth orbit (briefly) 31 years later. It was discovered by amateur astronomer Bill Yeung and he gave it the temporary designation J002E3 before it was determined to be an artificial object.”

It’s kind of neat they were able to spectroscopically detect titanium-oxide which made up the paint used on the Saturn V and conclude it’s not an asteroid.