With the opening of their strategic space dialogue, India and France strengthen their bilateral relationship.
The Strategic Space Dialogue was started by France and India in an effort to strengthen their almost six-decade-old relationship in the field.
The first India-France Strategic Space Dialogue, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), took place on Monday in Paris.
The French team was headed by Anne-Marie Descotes, Secretary-General, Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, and was joined by India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra.
The Indo-French space alliance, which dates back over six decades, includes collaborations in deep space exploration, research, operational applications, innovation, and technology for satellite launches.
In the areas of space medicine, astronaut health monitoring, life support, radiation protection, space debris protection, and personal hygiene systems, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the French National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) have been collaborating.
In an effort to stimulate innovation in the field of space research and technology, CNES President Philippe Baptiste visited the ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru earlier this month to look into prospective areas of cooperation.
Baptiste recalled the six decades of cooperation between the two space agencies in his conversations with ISRO Chairman S Somanath and stressed their steadfast commitment to taking it forward and tackling the possibilities and challenges in the current space environment.
In order to monitor sea-traffic management in the Indian Ocean, India and France want to create a “constellation” of eight to ten satellites for marine surveillance.
The Indo-French space alliance was established in 1964, when India was only beginning its space program and testing sounding rockets from Thumba in Kerala.
Baptiste had been informed by Somanath on the results of the space sector reforms initiated by India and the urge for more involvement of enterprises in France.
