I guess there are a lot of Indians on HN. Or, is everyone proud of this accomplishment.
BTW, I am an Indian and extremely proud of the steps my country is taking towards the big league.
BTW, I am an Indian and extremely proud of the steps my country is taking towards the big league.
1. It's better to hack something than design for perfection. India had a number of launch failures prior to this success, but kept at it at low cost. They literally launched early and got feedback :-)
2. The cost of creating technology start-ups is getting lower all the time. India did this on the cheap and was able to piggy back on years of prior work. It would be interested to see a comparison of the cost of getting into lunar orbit between 1945 and today.
3. It doesn't matter who you are, it's what you do that counts.
4. There are some places in the world that are best suited for particular technology start-ups: Boston and SV for software, anywhere along the Equator for a minimal delta-v.
When it comes to hacking spirit, they are pretty good though: http://www.isro.org/newsletters/spaceindia/octdec2003/webpgs... [Transporting a Sounding Rocket nose cone on bicycle during the early days of ISRO]