India's moon mission brings resumes from NASA and ESA

Amidst the chest beating by the nationalists in the Republican party in the US, they have no idea where US is going wrong.  Why the tomorrow of US kids is fraught with difficulties.  The major reason why US was the premier place for innovation was that its leaders inspired the scientists and the technologists to achieve higher and higher goals.

Budget deficits rising.. and religion has become a constant competition to science.  NASA’s programs are way behind as the money is not enough.  The next space flight to moon by NASA with humans can probably be in 2018 – and it would cost $100 billion.

By contrast, India may put a man on moon by 2010 and with a fraction of that cost (a similar mission by NASA would have cost 6 times more!).

With the success of Chandrayaan-I launch, many people in that fraternity have taken notice.  It was a major feat to send a space craft to moon.  It is now recognized in the peer community as well:

“It is now a mature-enough space program to start doing these sorts of things,” says Jeff Foust of The Space Review, an online magazine.

Quite obviously, then the talent around the world in space community also has become interested in what Indian Space Program has to offer!  Suddenly, many from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) have started sending their resumes to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) brass for jobs.  Many are NRIs who would like to return back – but there are many non-Indians as well.

“I have got 10 to 12 (emails),” Chandrayaan project director Dr M Annadurai told the Hindustan Times, adding, “and am sure some of my bosses have also got such mails.” And all these came after the Chandrayaan launch.

These folks are willing to take a drastic pay cut to be part of something exciting and something that may see the light of day!  Quite a reversal from the days when these very bright Indian scientific minds had went across the seven seas for a bright future and have spent their entire lives criticizing their counterparts in India of “backward” ways.  Well, times change. 🙂

To achieve so much with so little is the real achievement of the ISRO scientists.  The ingenuity of this class of minds is very difficult to grasp.  Absolutely admirable!