U.S. and India will Collaborate on Mars Exploration

U.S. and India will Collaborate on Mars ExplorationThis week NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and K. Radhakrishnan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), signed two documents which pave the way for future joint missions to explore Mars.

The documents were related to a future launch of a NASA-ISRO Earth observation satellite mission which will help lead the way for the future missions to the Red Planet.


U.S. and India will Collaborate on Mars Exploration

The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission, targeted to launch in 2020, will make global measurements of the causes and consequences of a variety of land surface changes on Earth.
Image Credit: NASA


The space agency leaders sighed this agreement during the International Astronautical Congress in Toronto this week. The document is a also charter that establishes a NASA-ISRO Mars Working Group to investigate enhanced cooperation between the two countries in Mars exploration. Through an international agreement, the two agencys define how they will work together on the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission, targeted to launch in 2020.

“The signing of these two documents reflects the strong commitment NASA and ISRO have to advancing science and improving life on Earth,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “This partnership will yield tangible benefits to both our countries and the world.”

Both agencies have newly arrived spacecraft in Mars orbit. NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft arrived at Mars Sept. 21. MAVEN is the first spacecraft dedicated to exploring the tenuous upper atmosphere of Mars. ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), India’s first spacecraft launched to Mars, arrived Sept. 23 to study the Martian surface and atmosphere and demonstrate technologies needed for interplanetary missions.

“NASA and Indian scientists have a long history of collaboration in space science,” said John Grunsfeld, NASA associate administrator for science. “These new agreements between NASA and ISRO in Earth science and Mars exploration will significantly strengthen our ties and the science that we will be able to produce as a result.”

Complete information on this story is available on the NASA web site at: http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/september/us-india-to-collaborate-on-mars-exploration-earth-observing-mission/.

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