ISRO’s Mangalyaan Mars Orbiter mission cheaper than IPL 7 players’ auction

By The Flying Freak

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) like a young Indian T20 team seven years ago, scripted a historic moment in the country’s history today. ISRO’s efforts made  India the first country to taste success of entering Mars orbit on first attempt. ISRO’s satellite Mangalyaan aka Mars Orbiter mission successfully entered the Mars orbit on September 23, 2014.

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Seven years back, a young Indian team lead by MS Dhoni won the inaugural ICC World T20 2007. Their success lead to the ‘cash-rich’ Indian Premier League (IPL) which again was a landmark moment in cricketing history.

While ISRO’s achievement is of a much better significance for India, but the adventure of exploring any planet in this solar system comes closer to beating cricket. Below table shows that only the cost of IPL 7 player auctions was far more expensive than the money spent by ISRO on the Mars Orbiter mission so far.

The mission was approved by the Indian government in August 2012 and was executed in 15 months at an approximate cost of Rs. 450 crores. The Mangalyaan Mission cost India $74 million which accounts to INR 4,51,28,89,912 compared to INR 4,68,10,00,000. IPL is expensive by INR 16,81,10,088 (in other words, close to INR 17 crores).

Mind you, these are only the amount spent in the auction of players, forget the other logistics and the expenses involved in the whole tournament. Perhaps, ISRO might have to make a few attempts to Pluto to match IPL’s expenses.

While the above table winds up so many digits together, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose an easy way to explain the difference, he said that India’s Mars Mission cost less than the movie gravity. While one Modi tastes success of ISRO, another Modi is still sulking to come back and run the IPL which he once created!

(The Flying Freak eats, lives, drinks cricket, but likes to mix up the sport with everything. An aspiring vocalist, he is aiming to win the Ghanta Awards soon.)