New Delhi: The Indian Space Research Organization Chairman Kailasavadivoo Sivan on March 20 said that “India and France are working on their third joint satellite mission, even as the bilateral space collaboration is entering into multiple domains, including human spaceflight program.”
K.Sivan is also secretary in the Department of Space and he said that “France is the biggest partner of India in space and many French companies are keen to tap into opportunities thrown up by recent reforms injected into the space sector by the Government.”
The ISRO and the French Space Agency CNES (Centre National dEtudes Spatiales) have launched two joint missions so far. The first mission was ‘Megha-Tropiques’ which was launched in 2011 and ‘Saral-Altika’ in 2013.
“Currently, we are working for the third one (mission), India is also working with France on joint experiments and accommodation of scientific instruments in a space mission,” Sivan said.
Sivan further added that “Indo-French space collaboration is expanding into multiple domains including space exploration and human space flight program. The two space agencies have also finalized all interface control documents for accommodating CNES’s ‘ARGOS’ instrument in ISROs OCEANSAT-3 satellite.”
ARGOS instrument has been delivered to Bengaluru for integration with the satellite.
Sivan said “with the recent reforms initiated by the government in the space sector, the Indo-French space cooperation is expected to grow further involving industries, academia and research institutes,”
In the last Sivan added “many French companies want to make use of reforms in the sector and they are going to involve. So, the reforms would not only strengthen space cooperation at government-to-government level but the industry-to-industry interaction is going to get a fresh relook in the changing environment.”
The government of India and The government of Paris are already developing their relations in the Defence sector. The New Delhi government has already ordered 36 Rafale fighter jets from the French defense company.
