Introduction
Space is not confined to national boundaries. Like other space agencies in the world, the Department of space is having international, presence cooperation, coordination.
- International cooperation is a strategic area for a space programme because relationships with other countries are influenced by political, economic, cultural, and human personality factors as well as scientific and technological factors.
- India has always recognized that space has dimension beyond national considerations, which can only be addressed along with international partners.
- Over the years, as ISRO has matured in experience and technological capabilities, the scope for cooperation has become multifaceted.
- While exploratory missions beyond the earth are the natural candidates for such cooperative efforts, there are many other themes like climate change impacts on earth, space science and planetary exploration that are of interest to international cooperation because of their global impact.
History
- International cooperation has been part of Indian space programme since inception.
- Establishment of Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS), conduct of Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) and Satellite Telecommunication Experiment Project (STEP), launches of Aryabhata, Bhaskara, Ariane Passenger Payload Experiment (APPLE), IRS-IA, IRS-IB satellites, INSAT series of satellites, Mission to Moon, etc., have the components of international cooperation.
- ISRO’s maiden mission to Moon, the Chandrayaan-1, has been an exemplary example of international cooperation with its international payloads.
- It has also earned several national and international laurels and was instrumental in the ISRO-NASA joint discovery of water molecules on the moon surface, unattained by any of the previous missions of such nature.
- The Indo-French joint satellite mission called MEGHA-TROPIQUES was launched in 2011 for the study of the tropical atmosphere and climate related to aspects such as monsoons, cyclones, etc. The data products from this satellite are made available to the international Scientific community.
- Another joint mission with France, named SARAL (Satellite for ALTIKA and ARGOS) for studying ocean from space using altimetry was successfully launched on February 25, 2013. CNES provided a radar altimeter instrument called ALTIKA and an onboard relay instrument for the international ARGOS data collection system, while, ISRO provided the satellite platform, launch and operations for this joint mission. The data from the altimeter is currently made available to global scientific community.
