India: Call Centers, Now the Moon

The call center industry may not be enough for the Indians. After dominating the BPO industry in the recent years, India would like a piece of the moon (or some of the business opportunities there).

Yesterday, October 22, India launched its first unmanned spacecraft, Chandrayaan-1, to orbit the moon to demonstrate their technological capacity and to potentially yield commercial gains for the country's space program. Scheduled to last two years, the mission intends to prepare a 3D atlas of the moon and scout for natural resources in the lunar surface. More importantly the voyage carries the Mini-SAR, a device that will look for ice deposits in the moon's polar regions.

Soon they'll be sending contact center agents up on the moon where they will receive 1-800 calls from Mars and the nearby planetary systems.

Photo: The launching of Chandrayaan-1 comes about a year after China’s first moon mission. (NY Times) Courtesy of Dibyangshu Sarkar/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images