• TFA says India was the first nation to achieve Mars orbit on the first attempt. Standing on the shoulders of giants, and all, but still… that’s surely an exceptional feat?

    Is it better to set the bar high and fail to achieve every goal, or set the bar low and achieve less, but be able to claim 100% success?

    I dunno, man… I kinda feel like putting something in Mars orbit on your first try deserves some respect and recognition.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      TFA says India was the first nation to achieve Mars orbit on the first attempt

      It’s not a question of if anyone could tho, it’s a question of why would anyone waste all that money for basically just PR…

      To my knowledge no one has taken money from their starving citizens so they can light a billion dollars on fire. I still wouldn’t be impressed if someone did it, even if they get to tell “first!” after it.

      I kinda feel like putting something in Mars orbit on your first try deserves some respect and recognition.

      Again, just because no one has done something yet, doesn’t mean no one else could. They just choose to spend their money on something other than PR.

      • masterairmagic@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        why would anyone waste all that money for basically just PR…

        It’s not just PR. Developing the engineering capability to reach Mars is a goal of its own. There are not many nations that can achieve that.