NEW DELHI, 10 May 2006 — Taking their new-found diplomatic warmth for each other literally to the moon, India and the United States yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding under which an Indian unmanned mission to the moon will carry two NASA scientific devices designed to find minerals and ice on the lunar surface.
The MOU was signed between Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It was signed by ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair and NASA administrator Michael Griffin at the ISRO satellite center in Bangalore.
The deal is seen as another sign of the increasingly close ties between New Delhi and Washington after decades of Cold War estrangement.
The Indian mission, called Chandrayaan-1, is set to launch in 2007 or 2008, according to the ISRO website, and will map the lunar surface using an array of sensors.
The collaboration, initially agreed on during US President George W. Bush’s visit to India in March, calls for two NASA payloads to be carried to the moon by a 525-kilogram spacecraft.
One of the American devices, a mini-synthetic aperture radar, will map ice deposits in the moon’s polar regions. The other instrument, called a moon mineralogy mapper, will asses mineral resources, said US Embassy spokesman David Kennedy.
Chandrayaan-1 will also carry three scientific instruments from European research centers. After the signing ceremony, NASA Administrator Griffin said he hoped that “as we extend the reach of human civilization throughout the solar system, the US and India will be partners on many more technically challenging and scientifically rewarding projects.”
Ties between New Delhi and Washington hit a low point when the United States and other Western nations imposed economic sanctions on India after it tested nuclear weapons in 1998.
The sanctions delayed ISRO’s plans to develop its own engine for launching space vehicles. However, most sanctions have since been lifted, and a civilian nuclear cooperation deal signed in March by Bush and India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is seen as the cornerstone of the emerging strategic partnership between the world’s dominant power and one of Asia’s economic powerhouses.
Apologizing for the US sanctions, Griffin said: “I am sorry about the past. But I would certainly take forth a good word about Indian space capabilities and Indian technical capability.”
ISRO Chairman Nair urged the United States to lift sanctions that remain in force on three of its operations and thus enable more high-tech imports. He said sanctions were still applied to ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Center and Liquid Propulsion Systems Center in Kerala state and the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Andhra Pradesh. During his two-day trip, Griffin will visit two of these sites.
