“India-US Space Ties Get a Major Boost: NASA Invites ISRO to Moon Base Programme”

India and the United States have discussed expanding cooperation in human spaceflight, scientific research, lunar exploration and commercial space activities, with NASA inviting ISRO to participate in its Moon Base programme during high-level bilateral talks held in Bengaluru earlier this month, the US Ambassador to India, Sergio Gor said on Tuesday.

The two-day meeting was held at the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) headquarters in Bengaluru on August 5 and 6 and brought together officials from ISRO, NASA and the US State Department to review ongoing projects and identify new opportunities for cooperation. “NASA has invited ISRO to join its Moon Base program, deepening the U.S.-India deep space partnership! The news came as StateDept and NASA co-chaired the 9th Civil Space Joint Working Group in Bengaluru, advancing the 🇺🇸-🇮🇳 TRUST initiative,” he said in a post on social media platform X.

A key outcome of the discussions was NASA's invitation to ISRO to join its Moon Base programme, reflecting growing collaboration between the two countries in lunar exploration. The proposal builds on cooperation under the Artemis Accords, a framework designed to promote international partnerships for the peaceful exploration of the Moon and beyond. Both sides also agreed to continue discussions on sharing open scientific data under the Artemis framework and explored opportunities for future partnerships in space science, advanced technologies and human spaceflight.

The talks come on the heels of the successful launch of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission, a landmark joint project aimed at monitoring changes on Earth's surface and supporting scientific research related to natural hazards, ecosystems and environmental changes. Officials said the two countries are looking to build on the success of NISAR through additional collaborative missions and space technology initiatives. Long-term sustainability of outer space activities also featured prominently during the discussions.

India and the US reaffirmed their commitment to guidelines developed through the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) and reviewed ongoing multilateral efforts aimed at promoting responsible behaviour in space and improving the effectiveness of global space governance mechanisms.

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