India accepts U.S. foreign aid, sends rocket to Mars

India has a rocket on its way to Mars, it hopes, and it's doing it at a fraction of what it is costing NASA to do the same thing.

The red-and-white-striped rocket carrying the Mars Orbiter Mission into orbit lifted off from the southeastern coast of the Indian subcontinent earlier today, and was to orbit the earth six or seven times to build up momentum before sling-shotting itself toward Mars, where it will go into orbit to study the red planet's minerals and atmosphere.

What it is really doing, however, showcasing India's ability to put a payload into orbit at a bargain price -- about 1,000 rupees ($16.20) a gram compared to about 10 times that much for the U.S.

The Indian probe is costing 4.5 billion rupee, $73 million, compared to the $671 million NASA MAVEN orbiter mission set to blast off Nov. 18.

India hopes to discover more about the loss of water from Mars, find the sources of methane gas and collect data about Martian moons Phobos and Deimos.

Its real goal, however, is to gain a piece of the global space launch business, worth about $304 billion a year.

Ironically, while NASA got out of the manned spaceflight business with retirement of the space shuttle, planning to fly only unmanned versions of its Orion capsule next year, U.S. aid is enough to fund India's competing space program.

Secretary of State John Kerry recently announced a 16 percent decrease in aid to India for 2014, it still amounts to $91 million, enough to fund India's Mars mission and then some.

That's down from $126.7 million in 2010, $121.6 million in 2011, $108 million in 2012 and $98.3 million this year.

While NASA's budget is nearly $18 billion, that's less than half of one percent of the total federal budget, TV science personality Neil deGrasse Tyson points out, about a half penny on the tax dollar.

"For twice that -- a penny on a dollar -- we can transform the country from a sullen, dispirited nation, weary of economic struggle, to one where it has reclaimed its 20th century birthright to dream of tomorrow."

With U.S. deficits at $680 billion -- $17 trillion total -- any spending for America's space program is open to debate. Deficit spending in order to help India's launch industry to undercut our own, however, should be an open-and-shut case.