New Delhi (Sputnik): The Indian space research agency ISRO and CNES of France have announced ambitious collaborations on inter-planetary missions like those to Mars, Venus and certain asteroids.
The collaboration will be part of the joint vision for space cooperation that India and France agreed upon during the signing of a memorandum of understanding last month. The disclosure was made by ISRO Chief Dr. K. Sivan in an interview published by the Times of India.
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"Yes, we have agreed to collaborate with French space agency CNES for inter-planetary missions. The vision document signed in March is an umbrella agreement. Based on our specific requirement for inter-planetary missions, we can have further interaction with CNES for joint collaboration," ISRO chairman Dr. K. Sivan told the Times of India.
A specialist is of the opinion that the collaboration would result in a major stride by humanity towards space exploration.
"Both India and France are highly advanced in technology and their partnership will hopefully herald an era in which the whole of humanity will come together to take our species to the next level as a space straddling civilization," popular author and advisory board member of India's "Mars-1 Project," Ramgopal Vallath, told Sputnik.
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The project Mars-1 aims to establish a permanent human settlement on the red planet.
"There is no doubt in my mind that the way forward for humanity is to step outside the comforts of mother earth: across interplanetary spaces at first and then across the vast interstellar spaces, colonizing new worlds and creating new civilizations. Artificial manmade boundaries such as national borders should not create barriers for this forward march," Ramgopal Vallath added.
