New Delhi, June 23: “In a nutshell, it should suffice to say that India and the USA are to break new ground in space. And, the credit goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who, during the last 9 years, took a series of unorthodox and path-breaking decisions, which enabled India to achieve a quantum jump in our space sector capabilities. As a result, the USA which had begun its space journey several years before us is today seeking collaboration with us as an equal partner,” said Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh on Friday.
Di Singh was briefing the media about several significant decisions and agreements accomplished during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ongoing USA visit, especially in relation to the signing of the “Artemis Accord ” and the Joint Indo-US mission to the International Space Station in 2024.
He said, “Could anything give us greater pride than to realise that a country like the USA which landed the first human benign on the surface of the moon when we were singing nursery rhymes about the moon is today seeking our inputs and our expertise on moon mission?”
Explaining to the media, the minister said, “The purpose of the Artemis Accord is a common vision with the USA and other countries via principles, guidelines and best practices so that we could supplement each other’s activities for peaceful purposes with transparency and also work together for avoiding harmful activities.”
“On the other hand, the joint mission to the International Space Station, which is separate from the signing of the Artemis Accord will develop a framework for a joint mission to the International Space Station in 2024, which the USA envisages as the possibility of closer cooperation between the space agencies of the two countries to get closer to the realities of Moon and subsequent to Mars and other planets,” he said.
As for Science & Technology, the union minister informed that on semiconductors, micron will invest 800 million dollars with additional financial support from the Indian government. Similarly, the US Quantum Consortium has welcomed and invited the Indian Quantum industry as its members, he said.
The agreement signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US historic visit between India and the US on cooperation in Space Research will take our bilateral relations to a new high, Dr Singh said. “As PM Modi said, ‘Even the sky is not the limit for cooperation with the US’,” he added.
