SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2003
India, Russia poised to enter new era in space
IANS
MOSCOW : Nearly 30 years after India 's first satellite was launched by a Russian rocket, the two countries are poised to substantially expand their cooperation in harnessing space for development.
A memorandum of understanding between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Russia 's Aviation and Space Agency was among 10 bilateral agreements signed here Wednesday following the annual summit between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and President Vladimir Putin.
India 's Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal said Russia 's plans to create a space-based navigation system comparable to America 's Global Positioning System and New Delhi 's unmanned moon mission had emerged as areas for potential cooperation.
"Space cooperation is a very important area of bilateral cooperation," Sibal said.
Russia , he said, had expressed an interest in assisting in Chandrayaan-I, India 's mission to send a spacecraft to the moon in 2008.
Referring to Russia 's proposed Global Orbiting Navigation Satellite System (Glonass), he said there was "major potential" for cooperation in the fabrication and launch of satellites.
Though launched in 1982, Glonass is yet to be perfected. With its expertise in making remote sensing satellites, India could play a crucial role in aiding Russia 's effort to complete the system by putting at least 24 satellites in orbit, sources said.
In 1975, India 's Aryabhatta satellite was carried into space by a rocket of the erstwhile Soviet Union .
But even earlier, the Soviet Union was one of the first nations that provided critical assistance in setting up the Thumba equatorial rocket launching station in India .
The Soviet Union provided free launches for the Bhaskara 1 and 2 earth observation satellites.
India 's remote sensing satellites IRS-1A, 1B and 1C were launched by Russia on a commercial basis, and Sqn. Ldr. Rakesh Sharma's space flight as India 's first cosmonaut was yet another symbol of Indo-Soviet space collaboration.
India and Russia signed an agreement on space cooperation in 1994, and officials said Wednesday's memorandum of understanding was expected to revitalise that accord.
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