Mission Chandrayaan a success, but was it worth it?

New Delhi: The Chandrayaan mission is by all accounts, a success. But at Rs 386 crore was it worth it?

Think about it. One billion Indians. Half of us earn less than eighteen rupees a day. Not enough to buy one square meal a day. Yet, we've just spent 386 crores to send a metal box to the moon. Why?

It's not just the civics, it's also the science. There have already been 67 moon missions till date. Man has landed, photographed and even taken samples from the moon. So, why are we re-inventing the wheel?

Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore H S Mukunda says, “I'm not sure I can justify that the scientific part of this mission is truly outstanding.”

Chandrayaan is the cheapest moon mission ever. The money we spent on it is less than the price of a Boeing 747. Less than one-tenth the price of telecast rights to the Indian Premier League.

It is just four per cent of ISRO'S annual budget over three years.

What do we get in the bargain? The first three-dimensional map of the entire moon, detailed X rays of what lies beneath the surface, proof of the absence or existence of fresh water and a look at whether humans can make a home there as well as something that could solve our energy crisis.

ISRO chairman Dr K Kasturirangan says, “Helium 3 is on the moon and it could provide energy to the earth for trillions of year.”

Space launches also mean big business. Antrix Corporation, ISRO's commercial wing, raked in Rs 900 crore last year. Launching sixteen foreign satellites in the past two years and selling remote sensing data from our own satellites have raked in the moolah.

But the real reason isn't the science or the economics, the real reason is the pride that it brings to India.