NASA will train an Indian astronaut to fly to the International Space Station next year, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said on Wednesday, as space ties between the United States and India deepen.
“There is an opportunity to share scientific information,” Nelson said at an event in Bengaluru, where on Thursday he will inspect the NISAR satellite, a low-Earth orbit surveillance system jointly developed by NASA and ISRO. India). .
The satellite, which is about the size of an SUV, will be launched from India in the first quarter of next year.
NISAR will image Earth every 12 days, providing data to study changes in the planet’s ecosystems. The information obtained will help predict natural hazards, including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides.
India aims to quintuple its share of satellite launches over the next decade and joined NASA’s Artemis Accords in June this year.
The agreement aims to improve and modernize the principles of the widely ratified 1967 Outer Space Treaty, calling for scientific transparency and establishing rules to coordinate activities.
In August, the Indian Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully landed on the Moon, while the Russian Luna-25 spacecraft crashed on the lunar surface.
China, which made the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon in 2019, is planning more flights and will spend about $12 billion on its space program in 2022. Meanwhile, the United States plans to spend about $93 billion dollars in its Artemis lunar program until 2025.
“This is the golden age of space exploration,” Nelson said Wednesday.