Source: Reuters
India, U.S. set to propel space cooperation
Sun June 20, 2004 2:11 PM GMT+05:30
BANGALORE (Reuters) - India and the United States start an ambitious chapter in space cooperation this week, marking a U-turn from a long estrangement linked to U.S. sanctions against India's nuclear programme.
About 150 U.S. experts will join a five-day conference in Bangalore from Monday to discuss collaboration on research, production, trade and satellite navigation.
"This conference really symbolises our coming together again," Marco Di Capua, counsellor for science and technology at the U.S. embassy in New Delhi, told a news conference late on Saturday at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) office.
Officials said the conference will result in a "vision statement" for guidelines, but no deals were expected.
The initiative comes against the backdrop of U.S. efforts to enlist India, Pakistan and China in moves to curb weapons of mass destruction and the spread of nuclear technologies while building a common front in its global war on terrorism.
It also comes as India's new communist-backed Congress government seeks to build better relations with the United States, Pakistan and China.
The United States, which saw India as a Soviet ally during the Cold War, for decades restricted export of items linked to India's space programme fearing military use. It imposed harder sanctions after India conducted nuclear tests in 1998.
The sanctions were lifted after India became an ally in the U.S.-led war on terror after the September 11 attacks. India's economic reforms since 1991 and its engineering and software prowess have also brought the two countries closer.
ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair said India's cost-effective space programme had paved the way for providing space equipment and software to the United States, which had eased controls on the export of technology and components.
"Earlier, it was a presumption of denial. Now it has come to a presumption of approval," Nair said.
Di Capua said India's expertise in geographic positioning software would help in remote sensing. India has also received U.S. proposals for payloads on a planned Indian mission to the moon, Nair said.
The conference's co-sponsors include NASA and U.S. corporate giants such as Honeywell, Raytheon Co and Boeing Co, which have major stakes in the aerospace business.
India and the United States signed a joint statement in November, 2001, on space cooperation.
Space cooperation has struck a special chord in India since Indian-born U.S. astronaut Kalpana Chawla was killed when the space shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry in 2003.
India, U.S. set to propel space cooperation
Sun June 20, 2004 2:11 PM GMT+05:30
BANGALORE (Reuters) - India and the United States start an ambitious chapter in space cooperation this week, marking a U-turn from a long estrangement linked to U.S. sanctions against India's nuclear programme.
About 150 U.S. experts will join a five-day conference in Bangalore from Monday to discuss collaboration on research, production, trade and satellite navigation.
"This conference really symbolises our coming together again," Marco Di Capua, counsellor for science and technology at the U.S. embassy in New Delhi, told a news conference late on Saturday at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) office.
Officials said the conference will result in a "vision statement" for guidelines, but no deals were expected.
The initiative comes against the backdrop of U.S. efforts to enlist India, Pakistan and China in moves to curb weapons of mass destruction and the spread of nuclear technologies while building a common front in its global war on terrorism.
It also comes as India's new communist-backed Congress government seeks to build better relations with the United States, Pakistan and China.
The United States, which saw India as a Soviet ally during the Cold War, for decades restricted export of items linked to India's space programme fearing military use. It imposed harder sanctions after India conducted nuclear tests in 1998.
The sanctions were lifted after India became an ally in the U.S.-led war on terror after the September 11 attacks. India's economic reforms since 1991 and its engineering and software prowess have also brought the two countries closer.
ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair said India's cost-effective space programme had paved the way for providing space equipment and software to the United States, which had eased controls on the export of technology and components.
"Earlier, it was a presumption of denial. Now it has come to a presumption of approval," Nair said.
Di Capua said India's expertise in geographic positioning software would help in remote sensing. India has also received U.S. proposals for payloads on a planned Indian mission to the moon, Nair said.
The conference's co-sponsors include NASA and U.S. corporate giants such as Honeywell, Raytheon Co and Boeing Co, which have major stakes in the aerospace business.
India and the United States signed a joint statement in November, 2001, on space cooperation.
Space cooperation has struck a special chord in India since Indian-born U.S. astronaut Kalpana Chawla was killed when the space shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry in 2003.