India's Mars Mission Envy

India's Mangalyaan (Mars Craft) spaceship and its successful insertion into Mars' orbit is exciting on so many fronts. What I'm most excited about is that one of its instruments is searching for methane. The Mars Express mission detected raised levels of the molecule way back in 2004. This discovery was heralded as being a possible indicator of microbial life on Mars, or maybe the marker of geological activity on the planet (admittedly less exciting but not a bad consolation prize!). While the NASA Maven mission entered Mars orbit rather more quietly a few days ago it has mission objectives focussed elsewhere, on the passing of a nearby comet and then the upper atmosphere of Mars. I can't seem to find a way of constructing a sentence about the Maven mission that doesn't seem patronising or dismissive but the truth is that I'm more excited by far about India's mission. Not only am I looking forward to the methane detection experiment results, this is a great accomplishment for India.

I haven't read a single news article yet that hasn't drawn attention to the notion that India would have been better off redistributing the $75 million it spent on the mission (around a tenth of what the Maven mission cost!) on feeding and clothing hungry citizens. There are even snarky digs at the fact that the country receives aid while having the audacity to perform science. This seems to me to completely miss the point. India has pulled off a fantastic feat of engineering here, for a bargain no less! How can this possibly be anything other than good for their economy and standing in the world? If we are worried about the poverty in the country then surely it is more helpful to improve the industry, infrastructure and reputation of the country. The Mangalyaan mission will do all of those things, even if indirectly. The western world has been driving for years towards the notion that science must always be directly practical in its application, otherwise it is somehow unworthy and wasteful. I'm glad that India at least can overcome this lack of vision and I hope that they, as a country, can make great accomplishments in areas where we must now rely on private citizens and companies.