On December 17, U.S. Principal Deputy National Security Advisor (PDNSA) Jon Finer, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, and Indian Ambassador to the United States Vinay Kwatra traveled to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, to mark the significant progress the United States and India have made to strengthen space cooperation, including under the U.S.-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET). Following President Biden and Prime Minister Modi’s June 2023 commitment to work together to “reach new frontiers across all sectors of space cooperation” and India’s signing of the Artemis Accords, our two nations reached an inflection point on collaboration across civil, security, and commercial space sectors. This includes human spaceflight, joint space exploration, and a commitment to facilitating commercial partnerships between U.S. and Indian space companies to advance our shared interests in the growing space economy.
As part of their visit to Houston, PDNSA Finer and Deputy Secretary Campbell met with representatives from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), and space industry leaders to identify new opportunities to further strengthen our burgeoning space partnership. They also reflected on the accomplishments of the past few months and charted next steps to take our partnership to the next level, including:
- Selecting two ISRO astronauts to train at NASA’s Johnson Space Center for the first-ever joint effort between American and Indian astronauts at the International Space Station, with Axiom Space serving as the provider of the mission; the launch of the Axiom-4 mission as soon as spring 2025 will mark a significant milestone in the U.S.-India space partnership and space exploration;
- Celebrating the completion of a Strategic Framework for Human Spaceflight Cooperation to deepen interoperability in space and working toward the conclusion of a new arrangement on advanced astronaut training;
- Noting continued progress toward the launch of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) in early 2025 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on India’s southeastern coast; the NISAR satellite integrates two radars – one from NASA and one from ISRO – which will together map the motion of the Earth’s surface twice every 12 days, as the United States and India work together to predict and respond to hazards, measure and quantify changes to infrastructure and resources, and address other global challenges;
- Exploring the creation of a new space innovation bridge to promote partnerships between U.S. and Indian startups focused on advancing space situational awareness, satellite technology, and space launch and exploration;
- Promoting defense space cooperation through the U.S.-India Advanced Domains Defense Dialogue, India’s participation in U.S. Space Command’s annual Global Sentinel exercise, and a recently launched space situational awareness joint challenge under the India-U.S. Defense Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X);
- Advancing reviews of Missile Technology exports to generate new opportunities for bilateral industry partnerships on space launch technology, including for commercial satellite launches.
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