India Plans Mars Trip

According to one article, India is among the countries planning future missions to Mars. In a plan set for 2015 that would study the atmosphere as well as search for possibly signs of water. There is some controversy, however, because of the extreme poverty in India and it is suggested that the huge amounts of money that this will take could really improve the lives of a lot of people if put to another use. I would agree with this argument, although not to say that science and space exploration are not important. I just don't think that the millions of Indian citizens that are starving see Mars as their greatest priority, especially when they aren't sure where their next meal will come from.