ISRO signed four cooperative documents to collaborate in space exploration in last five years, says Jitendra Singh

Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Thursday said that Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) of Government of India has signed four cooperative documents specifically to collaborate in space exploration in the last five years.

In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said that the agreement with the USA is for accommodating USA instruments in India’s Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3.

Singh added that the agreement with Japan is to conduct feasibility study for a joint lunar polar exploration mission, while with UK for conducting feasibility study for collaboration in future space science missions.

He said that the Department of Space of Government of India provides training and capacity building in space science related technology including satellite services to neighboring small countries and other space-aspiring countries of the world.

The minister added that India and Bhutan collaborated on the development of INDIA-BHUTANSAT Satellite carrying into payloads NanoMX, an optical imaging payload developed by ISRO and APRS-Digipeater, jointly developed by DITT, Bhutan and ISRO. The said satellite has been successfully placed in orbit on 26 November, 2022.

“A communication satellite ‘South Asia Satellite’ was dedicated by India to South Asian Countries in 2017,” Singh said.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) had earned approximately ₹1,100 crore in the last five years from the launch of foreign satellites.