Editorial: Indo-US space cooperation gains strategic depth 

NASA’s invitation to ISRO to join its Moon programme will provide the Indian space agency with valuable hands-on experience in executing complex crewed missions

From being a victim of technology denials to becoming an equal partner and co-explorer of new technological frontiers, India has come a long way in its space research journey. The growing strategic relationship between India and the United States in space exploration is a testimony to this transformation. Despite the volatility in trade relations, the two countries have been making steady progress in space cooperation. The latest illustration of this deepening bond came in the form of an invitation from the US space agency NASA to ISRO to join its Moon Base programme, an ambitious project to establish a permanent research station on the Moon, where astronauts can live, work and carry out experiments for extended periods. The last manned mission to the Moon was in 1972. Efforts have now begun to stage a return, this time to prepare the ground for longer stays. The proposal is to set up a permanent habitat on the lunar surface for astronauts to live, work, and explore through a series of crewed and uncrewed missions near the Moon’s South Pole — an area first accessed by India’s Chandrayaan mission. Unsurprisingly, the revival of manned missions is being spearheaded by the US through its Artemis programme, which aims to land humans on the Moon before 2028. The Moon Base programme is the logical follow-up. NASA is aware that this goal could be achieved much faster and more efficiently if other partner countries and private companies join the effort.

ISRO, which has its own plans to land humans on the Moon by 2040, will get valuable hands-on experience in executing complex crewed missions and access to technologies. In 2023, India joined the Artemis Accords, a US-led space alliance, whose purpose is to evolve and commit to a common set of principles that govern the civil exploration of outer space, including the Moon. India was the 27th country to sign on the Artemis Accords. Now, a total of 70 countries are part of the Accords. In the last few years, space agencies of the two countries have come closer to each other than ever before. The same year that India joined the Artemis Accords, the two countries also agreed to develop a “strategic framework for human spaceflight cooperation”. It was in the same vein that NASA had agreed to provide advanced training to Indian astronauts at its facilities with the objective of sending them to the International Space Station through privately operated missions. The flight of Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla to the ISS in 2025 was a result of this arrangement. Last year, two space agencies achieved a big milestone when they launched the long-awaited NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) mission, an ambitious and first-of-its-kind joint space mission. The offer to cooperate further on Moon missions is a logical extension of these efforts.

---