Indo-US space cooperation 'slow': ISRO chief
Washington,
Jan
31:
Indian
Space
Research
Organisation
(ISRO)
Chairman
G
Madhavan
Nair
has
expressed
concern
over
the
''slow''
growth
of
cooperation
in
the
space
sector
between
India
and
the
US.
Dr
Nair
made
this
observation
in
reply
to
a
question
about
US
export
controls
at
the
Centre
for
Strategic
and
International
Studies
(CSIS)
here
yesterday.
''It was a difficult question. Each country had its own laws,'' he said. Dr Nair, however, added that the two countries enjoy good bilateral relations at political level. ''In 2005, our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited the US and President Bush agreed to strengthen the relations in space cooperation, space commerce and so on,'' Dr Nair said. He gave details of difficulties in acquiring equipment from US companies but pointed out that the record was ''mixed''.
''There are positive signs and there are negative, but we have to be patient.'' Dr Nair explained how ISRO had been working on developing peaceful applications of outer space, especially in the field of education and agriculture.
In reply to a question, he said India had no competition with China in the field of space. ''On a commercial basis Chinese space agencies use Indian data. But we do not have any formal cooperation with China,'' he said.
The ISRO chief said International cooperation, rather than competition was going to be the norm for the future.He also recalled the role played by the United States in India's space programme during its formative stage in the sixties.
Dr Nair, who is scheduled to meet NASA administrator Michael Griffin and other officials, said ISRO and NASA were working ''very closely''.
UNI