NEW DELHI: Nasa administrator Bill Nelson said here that the US was ready to collaborate with India in building the country’s first space station , if it so desires.
“I think India wants to have a commercial space station by 2040. If India wants to collaborate with us, of course, we will be available. But that’s up to India,” he said. Nelson also said that Nasa is ready to plan an interplanetary mission with India but it all depends upon Isro.He also urged the space minister Jitendra Singh to expedite the programme related to sending India’s first astronaut aboard a Nasa rocket to the International Space Station (ISS).
On Indo-US collaboration, the Nasa chief said, “We are doing a lot of science together. India, in a joint venture with the US, will launch the most expensive satellite Nasa-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar (Nisar) in the first quarter of next year. The satellite is expected to be worth nearly $1 billion. Nisar will look at the surface of the earth and its climate. It will measure any change in its surface – land or water – or any movement in ice mass. This will be very important information as Nisar will give a three-dimension model and tell us exactly what is going to happen on our planet. And this data will be available to all on the Nasa website.”
Nasa is also identifying an opportunity in private astronaut missions for Indian astronauts. Nelsonis also scheduled to visit Mumbai for a meeting with business leaders in the space sector, took forward the talks that PM Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden had agreed on, earlier this year to launch a two-week joint India-US space flight next year.
“I think India wants to have a commercial space station by 2040. If India wants to collaborate with us, of course, we will be available. But that’s up to India,” he said. Nelson also said that Nasa is ready to plan an interplanetary mission with India but it all depends upon Isro.He also urged the space minister Jitendra Singh to expedite the programme related to sending India’s first astronaut aboard a Nasa rocket to the International Space Station (ISS).
On Indo-US collaboration, the Nasa chief said, “We are doing a lot of science together. India, in a joint venture with the US, will launch the most expensive satellite Nasa-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar (Nisar) in the first quarter of next year. The satellite is expected to be worth nearly $1 billion. Nisar will look at the surface of the earth and its climate. It will measure any change in its surface – land or water – or any movement in ice mass. This will be very important information as Nisar will give a three-dimension model and tell us exactly what is going to happen on our planet. And this data will be available to all on the Nasa website.”
Nasa is also identifying an opportunity in private astronaut missions for Indian astronauts. Nelsonis also scheduled to visit Mumbai for a meeting with business leaders in the space sector, took forward the talks that PM Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden had agreed on, earlier this year to launch a two-week joint India-US space flight next year.
