ISRO, CNES ink pact on satellite launch
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and French Space agency (CNES) have signed a partnership agreement in satellite launch technology.
The agreement was signed between ISRO Chairman Kiran Kumar and CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall in the presence of visiting French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Marc Ayrault in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
Key Facts
- Space cooperation is one of the cornerstones of the Indo-French strategic partnership and spans over 50 years. ISRO is the second partner of CNES, in terms of volume, after NASA.
- This agreement will strengthen the CNES-ISRO partnership. It will enable France to benefit from the Indian model of streamlining the costs of space programmes.
- Besides, agreement was also signed for equipping Axiom Research Lab’s lunar rover with two latest-generation CASPEX micro-cameras, developed by CNES in partnership with French firm 3DPlus.
Axiom Research Lab: It is leading Indian “NewSpace” start-up put forward TeamIndus, the only Indian team competing for the Google Lunar XPRIZE. CNES is providing cameras to Team Indus’ rover that will land on moon.
XPRIZE: It is a global competition organised by Google for engineers and entrepreneurs to develop low-cost methods of robotic space exploration. It will award $20 million to the first private company that successfully lands a module on the Moon, places a robot that explores at least 500 metres and transmits HD videos and images back to Earth.
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Month: Current Affairs - January, 2017