Cost effective space missions

We all know that Hollywood movies cost the earth. We hear of movie budgets which sometimes matches the GDP of a small country! And now we learn that the famed movie – Gravity, which is winning a lot of accolades was made at a cost which was much more than what it cost India to launch its expedition to Mars.

India’s Mangalayan cost $75 million, NASA’s similar mission to Mars, named Marven, which took five years in the making cost a jaw dropping $671 million. The budget of India’s Mars mission, by contrast, was just three-quarters of the $100 million that Hollywood spent on last year’s space-based hit, “Gravity.”

We as Indians have always learnt to cope with less and that in turn has made us thrifty, cost conscious and this need to cut costs wherever possible. So India’s space research has a meager budget which is 0.34% of the country’s total annual outlay. Its $1 billion space budget is only 5.5% of NASA’s budget, ISRO has learned to make cost-effectiveness a daily mantra. Its inexpensive but reliable launch capabilities have become popular for the launches of small French, German and British satellites. Chandrayaan moon mission in 2008 cost one-tenth what other nations’ moon shots cost.

Well, world over everyone comes to set up shop in India because it is cost effective but when we go shopping, we realize that everything is so expensive. One wonders where is the mismatch….