The India-US Joint Working Group on Civil Space Cooperation held its first meeting at Antariksh Bhavan, the Headquarters of ISRO at Bangalore during June 29-30, 2005. This Joint Working Group was constituted recently as a follow up to the India-United States Conference on Space Science, Applications and Commerce held in Bangalore during June 21-25, 2004.
The Joint Working Group (JWG) deliberated in the last two days to explore the potential and possibility of cooperation in earth observation, satellite communication, satellite navigation and its application, space science, natural hazards research and disaster management support, and education and training in space. These topics were identified based upon the vision document on strengthening India-US cooperation issued at the end of the June 2004 Bangalore Conference.
Dr. P S Goel, Member, Space Commission and Director, ISRO Satellite Centre and Mr. Anthony F. Rock, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Washington, co-chaired the Joint Working Group meeting, which was inaugurated by Mr. G Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO. In all, 25 US delegates representing Department of State, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Department of Transportation, Department of Commerce, US Geological Survey, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, universities and industry attended the Joint Working Group meeting. Senior officials of India’s Department of Space, Ministry of External Affairs, ANTRIX Corporation and other Government of India Departments/ Agencies concerned with applications of space technology took part in the meeting.
The two delegations agreed that India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar mission offers an outstanding opportunity to begin cooperation in space exploration. Cooperation on this mission will further both countries’ goals in space. NASA believes that its participation in this programme will be an important contribution to the Vision for U.S. Space Exploration announced by the President of the United States in January 2004.
The JWG noted that significant progress has been made in the U.S. GPS, the U.S. Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) and the Indian GAGAN space-based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Systems (PNTS). Both sides have a shared interest in promoting interoperability among existing and future civil space based PNTS to create a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). This area is ready for expanded bilateral cooperation.
The JWG expressed the intent to collaborate on a variety of earth observation projects. It was agreed to investigate the comparability and complementarity of data from U.S. Landsat and Indian IRS satellites and establishing an earth reception station in India for the U.S. National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS).
The Joint Working Group meeting has given further impetus towards strengthening and expanding the cooperation between India and the United States in the area of space exploration as envisaged in the June 2004 Conference.
