National Aeronautics and Space Administration Administrator Bill Nelson said the U.S. was open to helping India build its own space station. Nelson met Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh and discussed strengthening cooperation between the two countries in the space sector.
The U.S. and India are working on plans to send an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station by the end of next year, while ISRO, the Indian Space Research Organization, will launch the state-of-the-art joint venture satellite NISAR with NASA in the first quarter of 2024, Nelson added.
Data from NISAR will enable the study of land ecosystems, deformation of solid Earth, mountain and polar cryosphere, sea ice, and coastal oceans on a regional to global scale.
Built at a cost of $1.5 billion NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar), is targeted for launch onboard India’s GSLV rocket.
ISRO has developed the S-band SAR which was integrated with NASA’s L-band SAR at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory(JPL) in California. The integrated L & S band SAR is currently undergoing testing with the satellite at the U. R. Rao Satellite Center, Bangalore with the participation of NASA/JPL officials.
An official statement said ISRO and NASA have formed a Joint Working Group on Human spaceflight cooperation and are exploring cooperation in radiation impact studies, micrometeorite and orbital debris shield studies; space health, and medicine aspects.
ISRO is also in discussions with prominent U.S. companies such as Boeing, Blue Origin, and Voyager on specific items of cooperation as well as to explore joint collaborations with Indian commercial entities.
