The Indian Space Research Organisation hopes to ink an agreement allowing use of US-made components in Indian space programmes with increasing prospects of technology and space collaboration between India and the US once the nuclear deal between the two countries is through.On the sidelines of an international conference on smart materials, structures and systems, ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair told The Indian Express that both countries had exchanged drafts to sign an agreement for the use of US components on space programmes carried out by India.At present ISRO is required to get a clearance from the US Government every time it plans to use American components on a satellite or for any other project of the Indian space programme, said an ISRO official. “The Indo-US nuclear deal is for the energy sector. Space agreements are currently being worked out under the Indo-US civil space cooperation agreement. The nuclear deal can however lead to better co-operation in the area of high technology,” said Nair.While the nuclear deal would not directly affect the space agreement with the US, better relations would create an environment for closer initiatives, said K R Sridharmurthi, the executive director of ISRO’s commercial arm, Antrix Corporation. According to Sridharmurthi a broad umbrella agreement allowing use of US components in civilian space programmes will provide “certainty of business process and will encourage more customers to come to ISRO for business services”.The first Indian moon mission slated for later this year will feature the NASA-funded Mini Synthetic Aperture Radar (MiniSAR) developed by Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University and Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), jointly built by Brown University and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NASA.
