A Look Back Into History

Birth of the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR).

India launches first sounding rocket, a Nike Apache obtained from NASA, from the Thumba quatorial Rocket Launch Station (TERLS).

INCOSPAR transforms into ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization).

Satellite Instructional Television Experiment project launches in India, designed jointly by NASA and the ISRO.

1992

Following the disintegration of the USSR, US objects to the Indo-Russia cryogenic engine deal.

Seven years later, in 1969, INCOSPAR transformed into ISRO ( Indian Space Research Organization), whose first major applications program known as Satellite Instructional Television Experiment( SITE) used a NASA satellite ATS-6 to beam educational programs to direct satellite TV receivers installed in 2400 remote villages across India. Through this programme ISRO intended to showcase the capability of satellite broadcasting to reach the unreached and in general to show the efficacy of space for development.

Arnold Frutkin, the then Assistant Administrator for International Affairs at NASA who steered the program, reminisces that this was one project where they invited participation hoping that people would be interested and when it would work well, they would be interested in continuing it commercially.

It would be prudent to keep this in mind even as we enter the Artemis Accord and hope for enhanced commercial collaboration between the U.S. and Indian private sectors in the entire value chain of the space economy, addressing export controls positively and facilitating technology transfer.

The Trade Journey So Far India has been a major trading partner of the US in Space technology and services since 1976 after the conclusion of SITE. The FACC contract for INSAT1A to 1D, as well as supply of components, computers, and launch services for the INSATs were all part of the commercial deals. However, it is also important to remember that things were not always hunky dory.

US imposes sanctions on India after the Pokharan nuclear tests.

"India contracted with Ford Aerospace for a commercial satellite to continue their programs, and they contracted for a number of Ford Aerospace satellites over the years. The point is: this program not only was an educational lift to India and demonstrated what such a satellite could do, but it brought money back into the Unites States through commercial contracts for satellites for a number of years”, says Futkin.

After the Pokharan nuclear tests, US imposed sanctions on India, which led to denial of critical components, super computers and made further collaboration between the entities of the two countries difficult if not impossible.

In 1992, following the disintegration of the USSR, US objected to the Indo-Russia cryogenic engine deal and Russia was forced to renege and work out a new deal without technology transfer.

Conference is organized by two professional societies, one from US and the other from India which provides the opportunity to rebuild ties at the political and technical levels.

Articulated years after the program, this ringside viewpoint highlights US commercial expectations in a government-to-government program.

The sanctions slowed down the progress in critical areas but it could not stop India. Workarounds were implemented such that India was able to indigenously develop two critical technologies –supercomputers and cryogenic engines.

The US understood that sanctions were not working because India had a workforce that was successful in the development and applications of space and information technologies on their own.

This forced a rethink in the US policy circles. In 2004, a conference organized by two professional societies, one from US and the other from India, provided the opportunity to rebuild ties at the political and technical levels.

The setting up of the CSJWG was a political decision taken in 2005 and continues to operate till this day.

One of the outcomes of the cooperation outlined in the CSJWG in its first meeting in 2005 resulted in Chandrayaan 1 carrying NASA’s Moon Minerology Mapper which detected water trapped in minerals on the Moon.

The lander of Chandrayaan 3 has a NASA supplied Laser Retroreflector fo ranging studies. The NISAR project due for launch in 2024 includes an L-band synthetic aperture radar, a highrate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers, a solid-state recorder and payload data subsystem from NASA. ISRO is providing the spacecraft bus, the S-band radar, the launch vehicle and associated launch services.

Possible Opportunities

The May 2022 briefing by the White House indicates the direction that the interaction between USA and India on Space. The preamble states that, “President Biden and Prime Minister Modi announced the U.S.-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) in May 2022 to elevate and expand our strategic technology partnership and

Proposed interactions under iCET

Strengthening Cooperation on human spaceflight, including establishing exchanges that will include advanced training for an Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)/Department of Space astronaut at NASA Johnson Space Center.

Identifying innovative approaches for the commercial sectors of the two countries to collaborate, especially with respect to activities related to NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) project. Within the next year, NASA, with ISRO, will convene U.S. CLPS companies and Indian aerospace companies to advance this initiative.

Initiating new STEM talent exchanges by expanding the Professional Engineer and Scientist Exchange Program (PESEP) to include space science, Earth science, and human spaceflight and extending a standing invitation to ISRO to participate in NASA’s biannual International Program Management Course defense industrial cooperation between the governments, businesses, and academic institutions of our two countries”.

Strengthening the bilateral commercial space partnership, including through a new U.S. Department of Commerce and Indian Department of Space-led initiative under the U.S.India Civil Space Joint Working Group. This initiative will foster U.S.-India commercial space engagement and enable growth and partnerships between U.S. and Indian commercial space sectors.

Expanding the agenda of the U.S.-India Civil Space Joint Working Group to include planetary defence. This includes Space Situation Awareness where all the capabilities needed to detect the possibility and warn of potential asteroid or comet impacts with Earth, and then either prevent them or mitigate their possible effects.

The CLPS programme intends to land specific instruments on the moon at specific locations to study an aspect of the Moon. These landers are contracted out to various US vendors. For example, Astrobotics is providing two landers to NASA which will carry NASA instruments to the moon. Indian industry needs to explore