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US Invites India to Historic Moon Base Program
12 Aug
Summary
- India invited to join NASA's permanent Moon Base program.
- Chandrayaan-3 made India the only nation near lunar South Pole.
- Cooperation builds on Artemis Accords and deep space ambitions.
NASA has invited India to participate in its groundbreaking Moon Base program, aiming to establish humanity's first permanent lunar outpost. This significant development emerged from the 9th India-US Civil Space Joint Working Group meeting held in Bengaluru on August 5 and 6. The invitation leverages India's historic achievement as the sole nation to successfully soft-land a spacecraft near the Moon's South Pole with its Chandrayaan-3 mission in August 2023.
This proposed collaboration builds upon the existing partnership under the Artemis Accords, which India signed in June 2023. NASA envisions the Moon Base as a critical facility for astronauts to live, work, and explore the lunar South Pole, a region rich in potential resources like water ice. India's operational experience in this challenging area is deemed invaluable for the project's success.
The partnership extends beyond the Moon Base, with discussions also including cooperation on open scientific data sharing and advancements in human spaceflight technologies, potentially benefiting India's Gaganyaan program. This invitation marks a significant escalation of India-US space cooperation, signaling India's growing stature in global space exploration.
