India, Canada join hands on moon mission

In a significant development in its ambitious mission to moon, India has agreed to collaborate with Canada. The far-ranging memorandum of un...

In a significant development in its ambitious mission to moon, India has agreed to collaborate with Canada. The far-ranging memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed by Dr K. Kasturirangan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Dr Marc Garneau, president of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in Bangalore last week.

The significance of this, not much publicised deal, lies in the fact that Canada will be the first country to partner with India in its space programme. While the agreement covers a whole range of subjects from disaster warning to satellite communication, the text it clearly states ‘participation in a Moon Orbiter mission of India’.

ISRO has been planning a mission to the moon since 1999. In fact, later this week, the Lunar Mission Task Force headed by Dr George Joseph will place its detailed project document for peer reviewal in an intensive day-long meeting in Bangalore. Subsequently, it will be placed before the Government for financial clearance. If all goes well India’s lunar mission will take-off in 2007.

Though the details of the final mission are yet to be released but most likely it would be an experiment to study the moon’s core and also to take high-resolution remote sensing images of the moon’s surface. ISRO hopes to benefit from CSA’s extensive experience in space exploration. Kasturirangan said that ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) would be the vehicle of choice for the mission.

“When he was given the topic of the Opposition, he spoke. There is no prohibition in that, but I will definitely make some corrections in his topics…,” Yadav said.

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