Giving Each other space
U.S.-India space
collaboration revs up

By DIPESH SATAPATHY

Former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) K. Kasturirangan recalls a reception hosted in the mid-1990s at the Indian Ambassador's residence in Washington, D.C. There Daniel S. Goldin, longest-tenured administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administra-tion (NASA), told him that India and the United States would be natural partners in space exploration in the 21st century.

The conference on space science, applications and commerce at Bangalore, jointly organized by the Astronomical Society of India and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, was the first major effort in many years to revive the partnership envisioned by Goldin. It was also the single largest activity sponsored by the Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum. More than 500 scientists, businesspersons and officials from both countries gathered from June 21 to 25 to further the U.S.-India space cooperation was that formally kicked off at the 1963 sounding rocket experiment at Thumba, Kerala.

Both India and the United States have much to offer each other in space research. Both have a well-developed space program; both want commercial space activities and apply space technology to agriculture, disaster management, weather monitoring, ocean studies, education, communication and broadcasting. Some significant U.S.-India collaborations are underway, notably in monitoring the environment. Under a 1997 memorandum of understanding (MoU), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA collaborate with India's Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Department of Space (DoS), exchanging Indian and U.S. geostationary satellite data for earth and atmospheric science activities. It is one of several MoUs between Indian and U.S. space-related agencies.

The data strengthen the scientific information base, enhance weather forecasts and sustain major science programs addressing global monitoring, sustainable development, climate change and natural disaster reduction. The MoU was extended in December 2002 for five more years, and now includes ocean issues. NOAA and ISRO are partners in the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters, a coordinated effort to make civil space agency data more readily available to emergency authorities during major disasters. NOAA also offers technical expertise to a $16-million Disaster Management Support (DMS) project in India, a collaborative effort of USAID and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Senior officials from both sides are optimistic that as impediments to bilateral high-tech exchange are lifted, space cooperation will improve and the early potential realized. The Next Steps in the Strategic Partnership (NSSP) initiative will provide impetus to new programs, such as that cited by NOAA's Deputy Administrator John J. Kelly, who said, "The United States and India must continue leading the larger international effort to establish a comprehensive Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS)."

"Let us give each other space, both figuratively and literally," said Ambassador David C. Mulford. He observed that there are tremendous opportunities for enhanced cooperation in civil space and high technology commerce-from telemedicine and tele-
education to enhancing agricultural productivity and satellite communications systems. "Progress will entail understandings involving the handling of sensitive technologies," he said. "With goodwill and trust, we can move forward."

President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who started his career with ISRO, said at the conference, "I visualize in the year 2050, an Indo-U.S. team establishing a habitat in Mars; establishing mining industrial units in space and working on a joint program to destroy or deviate the asteroids when the earth is endangered." He also sees opportunities in energy generation, strides in using nanotechnology in space science, and more effective earthquake prediction. "We will have a voyage, a purposeful voyage, and a challenging journey," Kalam said.

While Kelly urged India to expand its participation in the Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites (CGMS), of which Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) is a member, senior Indian scientists stressed the need for joint efforts in satellite and payload development, data analysis and launches that will be economic and profitable. They also want collaboration with U.S. federal agencies on satellite data exchange. IRS-P6 or RESOURCESAT-1, launched in October last year, is ISRO's most advanced remote sensing satellite that has vastly enhanced the quality of remote sensing data. "The future avenues of cooperation are manifold," says ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair.

Both countries are discussing the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) as a building block for a future global air navigation network. India is already using GPS extensively for surveying, precision agriculture and environment monitoring and will use it in its planned satellite-based augmentation system called GAGAN (GPS and Geo Augmented Navigation). David Turner from the U.S. Department of Commerce said developments could be faster realized if India reduced its 10 to 40 percent import duty on GPS goods.

According to U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce Kenneth I. Juster, the U.S.-India MoU involves NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, NOAA's geostationary operational environmental satellites, and India's INSAT and Kalpana satellites. The U.S.-India High Technology Cooperation Group (HTCG) was set up in November 2002 and a "Statement of Principles for U.S.-India High Technology Commerce" was negotiated last year. Juster says the Indo-U.S. Trade Agreement aims at reviewing U.S. export licensing processes and policies to grant India expanded access to U.S. dual-use goods and technologies, lowering tariffs and other barriers to high-technology trade with India, and working in partnership with the private sector in each country. Business experts are in the best position to identify obstacles to high technology commerce and propose specific policy changes.

Industry delegates from both sides felt that U.S. dual-use export controls imposed after the Pokhran-II nuclear tests were a major hindrance to commercial cooperation. Juster said misperceptions continued about U.S. trade sanctions and cited statistics to support his point. "Since the lifting of sanctions in September 2001, only a small percentage of our total trade with India is subject to controls. The vast majority of dual-use items simply do not require a license for shipment to India," he said. In fiscal year 2003, 90 percent of all dual-use licensing applications for India was approved while the value of such approvals more than doubled from $27 million to $57 million. These trends have continued in the first part of 2004 fiscal year, he said, adding that after the High Technology Cooperation Group was set up, U.S. licensing has increased in the export of sophisticated high technology to India. In the past year and a half, the number of licensing decisions for ISRO and its subsidiaries has increased by 75 percent. The license approval rate now stands at about 93 percent.

Indian space industry representatives stressed the need for "predictability, reliability of supply and kindliness" in the U.S. licensing process and hoped space science is included in future high-tech cooperation. "There is still the potential for greater level of bilateral high technology trade," Juster emphasized. According to Madhavan Nair, sourcing of U.S. components for the space program has become easier after 2002. Meanwhile, Boeing Corporation has been licensed to exchange specific information with ISRO about possible joint fabrication of a communications satellite. DoS's Antrix Corporation has a commercial agreement with Space Imaging of USA for marketing and sale of IRS data. ISRO and Raytheon are in the final stages of negotiating a contract to install GPS equipment in Indian aircraft.

Early this year NASA announced a major thrust in moon and Mars exploration over the next decade, with proposed robotic missions to the moon starting 2008 with the goal of continuous presence of humans on the moon by 2020. Many scientists saw exploratory missions to the moon as a potential area of collaboration (see sidebar "The Lunar Connection").

During the first five years of the 1997 MoU, NASA and IMD initiated seven projects. One of them was to improve continuous monitoring of rainfall in the Indian subcontinent. NASA upgraded IMD's cyclone detection radar in Karaikal, Pondicherry, and provided data tapes. Another project involved long-range forecasting of regional climate over India. Dedicated communication links were established between IMD and U.S. agencies for exchange of data. Other projects on climate and atmospheric sciences, disaster management, ocean research and geodynamics are underway, and more are ahead. Among them are an ISRO- NOAA collaboration on the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), to be launched in 2009. Data from this will help predict cyclones and support disaster management efforts.

Atmospherics at the conference were positive-both literally and figuratively-as the scientific, government and commercial space community took stock of the possibilities. It does, indeed, look as though India and the United States will be giving each other much more space for creative projects that continue to benefit the people of both countries. And a decades-old dream of partnership will come true.