NASA DISCUSSES WITH ISRO PROSPECTS FOR COOPERATION ON

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENNAI 000703 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TSPA ETTC KNNP KSCA ECPS IN SUBJECT: NASA DISCUSSES WITH ISRO PROSPECTS FOR COOPERATION ON SPACE EXPLORATION REF: NEW DELHI 2455 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: NASA officials visited the Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO) Bangalore headquarters on November 6. The NASA team outlined the agency's plans for lunar exploration to an audience of 35 scientists, heard ISRO's plans for the future of India's space program, and discussed prospects for cooperation on future projects. The NASA officials also met with G. Madhavan Nair, ISRO's chairman, who expressed his strong support for future NASA-ISRO cooperation. At nearly every opportunity, ISRO expressed its preference for working jointly with NASA to develop technology and scientific research projects, rather than simply providing launch platforms for NASA-developed instruments. End Summary. A warm welcome for NASA -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Tom Cremins, Deputy Associate Administrator for Management and Policy in the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate and Gib Kirkham, Director of the Exploration Systems and Aeronautics Research (ESAR) Division in the Office of External Relations visited ISRO headquarters in Bangalore on November 6. Speaking to an audience of 35 of India's top space scientists, they outlined NASA's plans for lunar exploration, and answered questions from the assembled scientists. ISRO's plans for space exploration -------------- ¶3. (SBU) J.N. Goswami, Director of ISRO's Physical Research Laboratory, then explained ISRO's plans for space exploration, starting with the planned 2008 launch of Chandrayaan-1 (C-1),which will place a satellite into a polar orbit around the moon for two years. The mission's goal is to create a more detailed geographical, mineralogical, and chemical map of the moon than any that exists today. Going beyond that mission, Goswami outlined ISRO's plans for Chandrayaan-2 (C-2),which ISRO expects to launch by 2012. This mission, still very much in the preliminary planning stage, intends to place a lander and rover on the surface of the moon and conduct a series of scientific experiments. The landing site and types of experiments chosen, Goswami said, will depend on the findings of both C-1 and other countries' lunar missions scheduled to take place over the next several years. ¶4. (SBU) Going beyond the C-2 mission, Goswami said that ISRO had two general goals to accomplish by 2020: explore the inner solar system and develop the capacity to explore the outer solar system. He said that the missions launched in pursuit of these goals could include a Mars orbiter, an asteroid orbiter, or a comet fly-by. Goswami concluded his presentation by mentioning that he hopes that U.S.-India cooperation on space exploration will continue, noting that the United States contributed two major components to the C-1 mission. He cautioned, however, that "we need to be careful," remarking that the experience with the International Space Station -- where India was excluded from participation -- had not been forgotten. (COMMENT: Our ISRO contacts reference this episode regularly. India's exclusion from the space station project stemmed largely from sanctions put in place after the 1998 nuclear tests. END COMMENT.) Potential areas for cooperation -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Following the presentations, the NASA officials met with seven ISRO officials (including Goswami and R. Sridharan, the Director of ISRO's Space Science Laboratory) to discuss in more detail potential areas for cooperation. Cremins suggested two specific areas for cooperation on the C-2 mission, namely autonomous hazard avoidance technology for a lunar rover and an in-situ resource utilization experiment for acquiring subsurface samples of lunar regolith, characterizing and extracting water and other volatiles, and demonstrating the production of oxygen, which NASA plans to test in December. ¶6. (SBU) Sridharan stressed that ISRO's planning for the specific details of C-2 was still in its infancy, but suggested that ISRO might be open to a wide variety of suggestions for the kinds of research that the mission might accomplish. Cremins said that C-2 might be a good opportunity to cooperate on research into low-temperature-tolerant equipment (batteries, electronics, or other mechanisms),analysis of dust particles, radiation detectors, or seismometers. Cremins also suggested that there may be the possibility for an ISRO team to join with NASA and the UK space CHENNAI 00000703 002 OF 002 agency to consider the engineering and scientific aspects of the UK's proposed MoonLITE mission. Sridharan and the others expressed interest in nearly all of the suggestions, adding that ISRO's new 32-meter satellite dish near Bangalore might make a useful contribution to a deep-space communications network. They were rather noncommittal, however, stressing that they would need the imprimatur of ISRO's director before they could get involved in detailed discussions on cooperation. Together, please -------------- ¶7. (SBU) At almost every opportunity, ISRO officials clearly expressed a preference for working with NASA to develop jointly technology or science projects, rather than having ISRO's rockets serve simply as a launch platform. They also said that they would prefer to jointly develop as much of the equipment for the C-2 mission as possible, in contrast to several of the scientific payloads in the C-1 mission, which were designed and built elsewhere. ISRO's chairman voices support for cooperation -------------- - ¶8. (SBU) ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair, in a separate meeting, expressed his strong support for increased NASA-ISRO cooperation and agreed with Cremins that NASA and ISRO representatives should meet again within six months to discuss in more detail each agency's lunar exploration objectives and possible areas of collaboration. Cremins also raised the possibility of NASA-ISRO cooperation in educational outreach, perhaps through the International Space Education Board. Nair agreed that this could be a useful area for cooperation, noting that ISRO sponsors a "Space Week" educational program every October. He also said that ISRO's capabilities in tele-education and telemedicine might be useful in supporting this kind of outreach. Comment: -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Two clear, related messages emerged from the day's meetings. The first is that ISRO is extremely proud of its "indigenous" capabilities and the technology that it has developed in India, with Indian talent and resources. The second is that ISRO wants to be involved on the cutting edge of as much science and technology as possible and does not want to become simply a source of cheap space launches for high-tech gadgets developed elsewhere. It will therefore seek to participate in the development of the latest research and technology whenever possible. The potential for NASA and ISRO to increase their cooperation seems almost limitless, but the two organizations are only just starting to determine where this cooperation may lead. ¶10. (U) This message was cleared by NASA and coordinated with Embassy New Delhi. HOPPER