New Delhi: India has major agreements with different countries in order to escalate India’s space capabilities .Today speaking at the plenary session of the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) 2020, the Chairman of India’s space agency Dr K. Sivan said, “The country has signed 250 documents in the field of Space cooperation with 59 countries to advance India’s capabilities and also to help other space-aspiring nations to benefit from space”. The countries like Russia, USA, France, Japan and Israel have major cooperation in the space technology field with India and are looking forward to elaborate on the ongoing and future projects added by ISRO Chairman Dr K. Sivan.
Sivan pointed out that India has partnerships ranging from cooperation in human spaceflight to planetary exploration and joint experiments. Currently, we have a NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar NISAR satellite and working with United States Geological Survey(USGS) for sharing of satellite data.
On the lines of cooperation with France, we have launched two joint satellites Megha tropiques and Saral and the retired mission is underway. With Germany, we have collaborated with German Agency DLR on robotics and Artificial Intelligence, added Sivan.
Further Sivan said, “Japanese space agency JAXA is in partnership with ISRO to build a joint Lunar polar exploration mission. With Israeli Space Agency (ISA) we are working in the field of electric propulsion systems and deep space network antenna support”.
On the dynamics of rocket launches this year, Dr Sivan said that November may be the month as the agency is planning for the launch of PSLV rocket. India’s space activities are spread across centers in various parts of the country, it has become challenging for officials and scientists to travel to carry out work. ISRO is planning to have the PSLV C-49 launch in November first week.
Gaganyaan project would see a small shift as it was all set for August 2022 launch. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech in 2018 had said that when the country is celebrating its 75th year of Independence in 2022, an Indian son or daughter will be flying into space as a part of the Gaganyaan Human Spaceflight mission. ISRO had imparted a 2-month long hands-on training in nano satellite building for 60 officials from 33 countries.