MUMBAI: Nasa administrator Bill Nelson announced on Friday that a major joint Indo-US space missiondesignated Nisar (Nasa-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar) is provisionally slated for launch in March.
In an interaction with media at the US Consulate, he said that the launch of Nisar will mark a major milestone in the Indo-US space tie-up. “We are all very excited about this flight,” he added.
The 14th Nasa administrator said that the primary role of the mission would be to learn about Earth and protect it.“It will study and measure Earth’s changing eco-systems and support a host of other applications,” added Nelson, who has trained and flown inNasa’s space shuttle Columbia in 1986, and orbited the earth 98 times over six days.
“I saw the spacecraft at Bengalaru yesterday (Thursday) and as of now everything is progressing smoothly,’’ he said while inviting the Mumbai media to witness the launch at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
Referring to future areas of Indo-US space collaboration, he said that an Indian astronaut will be trained by Nasa and flown to the International Space Station (ISS) towards the end of 2024 where he will conduct research for 10 to 14 days.
About the ground-breaking success of Chandrayaan-3he said many nations have attempted to touchdown near the South Pole region of the Moon, but none succeeded. “Only India succeeded and my heartiest congratulations to Isro,” he said.
In view of this country’s record-breaking space flights, he said the US decided to team up with India in the space sector more than a decade ago because the American government knew about India’s strong capabilities in the scientific and technical areas. “India had the expertise and we decided to join hands,” he said.
Nelson stressed that it was important to keep the two governments together, while pointing out that the ties between India and the US could not be better and stronger now especially in the space field.
He said that the space collaboration will also include the commercial sector which is why he visited Mumbai. On Thursday, he was in Bengaluru where he also visited his old friend, Rakesh Sharma, India’s first astronaut.
About US missions, he described the recent explosion of Space X’s second Starship mission as a “learning curve”. “The philosophy of Space X is testing, developing and designing,’’ he added.
He said that the first woman astronaut will land in Moon’s South Pole region in Nasa’s Artemis-3 mission along with three male crew members. The date of the launch is, however, yet to be decided. The lander for this mission will be provided by the private sector.
In an interaction with media at the US Consulate, he said that the launch of Nisar will mark a major milestone in the Indo-US space tie-up. “We are all very excited about this flight,” he added.
The 14th Nasa administrator said that the primary role of the mission would be to learn about Earth and protect it.“It will study and measure Earth’s changing eco-systems and support a host of other applications,” added Nelson, who has trained and flown inNasa’s space shuttle Columbia in 1986, and orbited the earth 98 times over six days.
“I saw the spacecraft at Bengalaru yesterday (Thursday) and as of now everything is progressing smoothly,’’ he said while inviting the Mumbai media to witness the launch at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
Referring to future areas of Indo-US space collaboration, he said that an Indian astronaut will be trained by Nasa and flown to the International Space Station (ISS) towards the end of 2024 where he will conduct research for 10 to 14 days.
About the ground-breaking success of Chandrayaan-3he said many nations have attempted to touchdown near the South Pole region of the Moon, but none succeeded. “Only India succeeded and my heartiest congratulations to Isro,” he said.
In view of this country’s record-breaking space flights, he said the US decided to team up with India in the space sector more than a decade ago because the American government knew about India’s strong capabilities in the scientific and technical areas. “India had the expertise and we decided to join hands,” he said.
Nelson stressed that it was important to keep the two governments together, while pointing out that the ties between India and the US could not be better and stronger now especially in the space field.
He said that the space collaboration will also include the commercial sector which is why he visited Mumbai. On Thursday, he was in Bengaluru where he also visited his old friend, Rakesh Sharma, India’s first astronaut.
About US missions, he described the recent explosion of Space X’s second Starship mission as a “learning curve”. “The philosophy of Space X is testing, developing and designing,’’ he added.
He said that the first woman astronaut will land in Moon’s South Pole region in Nasa’s Artemis-3 mission along with three male crew members. The date of the launch is, however, yet to be decided. The lander for this mission will be provided by the private sector.
