The Government today informed that currently, space cooperative documents have been signed with 61 countries and five multilateral bodies.

In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the major areas of cooperation are satellite remote sensing, satellite navigation, satellite communication, space science and planetary exploration and capacity building.

Dr Jitendra Singh informed that Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is already working with the space agency of USA (NASA) for realising a joint satellite mission, named ‘NISAR (NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar)’ which is in the advanced stages of realisation. ISRO is working with CNES (French National Space Agency) for realising a joint satellite mission named ‘TRISHNA (Thermal Infrared Imaging Satellite for High Resolution Natural Resource Assessment)’, which is in the initial stages. ISRO and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) have carried out a feasibility study to realise a joint lunar polar exploration mission.

Indian Space Policy – 2023 has been released, which provides the freedom of innovation to the private sector to pursue end-to-end activities in the space domain. Further, the India National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) has been functioning as a single-window agency to promote, authorise and encourage private sector participation in space sector.

ISRO pursues international collaboration with the objectives of enhancing the capacity of the Indian space programme for advancing programmatic priorities, augmenting space science and earth observation data base, widening ground station networks, bettering products and services through joint experiments and creating platforms for inflow of expertise.

<><><><><>

SNC/PK