Article Posted on : - Nov 09, 2010

NEW DELHI (PTI): India could partner the US in space flight carrying human beings and other missions, including those to the International Space Station (ISS).

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting US President Barack Obama on Monday agreed to continue discussions on joining hands for future lunar missions, International Space Station, human space flight and data sharing.

A joint statement issued after talks between the two leaders said there was also an agreement on reconvening the Civil Space Joint Working Group early next year.

“The possibility of cooperation between the two nations in space, to advance scientific knowledge and human welfare, are without boundaries and limits,” the joint statement said.

Obama and Singh also commended their space scientists for launching new initiatives in climate and weather forecasting for agriculture, navigation, resource mapping, research and development and capacity building.

They highlighted the just-concluded Implementing Arrangement for enhanced monsoon forecasting that will begin to transmit detailed forecasts to farmers beginning with the 2011 monsoon as an important example of bilateral scientific cooperation advancing economic development, agriculture and food security.

A recent highlight of the space cooperation between the two countries was Chandrayaan-I, India’s maiden mission to the Moon. The Indian mooncraft had carried NASA payloads when it was launched in October 2008 and the experiments conducted jointly led to the discovery of water on lunar surface.

India plans to launch Chandrayaan-II in the next couple of years and has also announced its intention to undertake interplanetary missions.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is currently exploring possibilities of launching a mission to Mars in the next five years.