Chandrayaan-I: ISRO, NASA ink payload MoUs

Marking the beginning of a renewed Indo-US space cooperation, the Indian Space Research Organisation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration today signed Memoranda of Understanding for carrying US scientific instruments on India’s Chandrayaan-1 moon mission slated for 2007-08.

Marking the beginning of a renewed Indo-US space cooperation, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) today signed Memoranda of Understanding for carrying US scientific instruments on India’s Chandrayaan-1 moon mission slated for 2007-08. NASA administrator Michael Griffin, who is touring India to see Indian space capabilities, and ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair signed two MOUs to define the scope of experiments, sharing of responsibilities and data on the maiden Indian moon mission.

Chandrayaan-1 will, apart from Indian and European payloads, carry a NASA Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) to study mineral resources on the moon and a mini synthetic aperture radar to look for ice deposits in its polar regions.

The two-year moon mission is aimed at improving the understanding of the moon’s history and evolution by studying its surface and properties. ‘‘It is my hope that as we extend the reach of human civilisation throughout the solar system, the US and India will be partners on many more technically challenging and scientifically rewarding projects,’’ the NASA chief said at the signing.

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Indo-US space cooperation dates back to the 1960s but ties had snapped following US sanctions in response to Indian nuclear tests in 1974 and in 1998. The ISRO chairman said only three Indian space research units remained on the US entity list at present — the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre and the Sriharikota launch facilities.

The NASA chief said the Technology Safeguard Agreements to protect technologies used by India and the US in joint ventures would be signed on a mission-to- mission basis as space cooperation moves ahead to include more US payload launches on Indian space projects.

NASA and ISRO were looking at complementary cooperation where the two countries did not spend money on the same things but shared knowledge, the Indian and US space chiefs said.

‘‘First we have to understand each other’s requirements to avoid duplication of efforts. More areas of cooperation will evolve with this,’’ Madhavan Nair said. The US is contributing instruments for an Indian space mission for the first time, while Griffin is the first NASA chief visiting India in three decades.

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Later, Griffin left for Thiruvananthapuram to see the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre and the ISRO Inertial Systems unit.

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