India and the US discuss a strategic plan to send an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station in 2024 during the G20 summit
India and the US said on Friday that they have begun discussions to develop a strategy framework for human space travel by the end of this year, as they prepare to send an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station in 2024. US President Joe Biden congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the historic Chandrayaan-3 lunar landing and the accomplishment of the Aditya-L1 solar mission, according to a joint statement.
“Determined to deepen our partnership in outer space exploration, ISRO and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have begun discussions on modalities, capacity building, and training for mounting a joint effort to the International Space Station in 2024, and are continuing efforts to finalize a strategic framework for human space flight cooperation by the end of 2023,” read a joint statement released after the 52-minute meeting between Modi and Biden. During Modi’s visit to the US in June, Biden had said that the US and India will be working together to deploy an astronaut to the international space station in 2024.
On Friday evening, just after landing at Delhi International Airport, Biden took a car to Modi’s official house at the Lok Kalyan Marg.The United States will support India’s participation in asteroid detection and tracking through the Minor Planet Center, according to the joint statement. India and the United States also intend to increase coordination on planetary defense to protect planet Earth and space assets from the impact of asteroids and near-Earth objects.
The leaders appreciated efforts to create a Working Group for commercial space cooperation within the already-existing India-U.S. Civil Space Joint Working Group, according to the statement, which continued, “Having set a course to reach new frontiers across all sectors of space cooperation.”
The US reaffirmed its commitment to cooperating with India in the quantum field, both bilaterally and via the Quantum Entanglement Exchange, a platform to promote global quantum exchange possibilities, it was also said in the statement.
The S N Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences was invited by the two leaders to join the Quantum Economic Development Consortium as a participant. It was also acknowledged that the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay become a global partner of the Chicago Quantum Exchange.
Modi and Biden welcomed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Bharat 6G Alliance and Next G Alliance, run by Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions, as a first step towards enhancing public-private cooperation between vendors and operators. Both leaders share a vision for secure and trusted telecommunications, resilient supply chains, and global digital inclusion. In the joint statement, they also recognised the formation of two Joint Task Forces with the goals of collaborating in the area of Open RAN and conducting research and development on 5G and 6G technologies. “A US Open RAN vendor will carry out a 5G Open RAN pilot at a top Indian telecom operator before field deployment.
The statement said that Biden also appreciated India’s support for a Rip and Replace pilot in the United States. “The leaders continue to look forward to the participation of Indian companies in the U.S. Rip and Replace Program,” it read. The two leaders applauded the signing of an Implementation Arrangement between the Department of Biotechnology and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), which would allow scientific and technical research partnerships on advancements in biotechnology and biomanufacturing. In order to promote academic and industrial collaboration in semiconductor research, next-generation communication systems, cyber-security, sustainability and green technologies, and intelligent transportation systems, they welcomed the call for proposals issued by NSF and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
The leaders recommitted their administrations to promoting policies and adapting regulations that facilitate greater technology sharing, co-development, and co-production opportunities between Indian and American industry, government, and academic institutions. They also reaffirmed their commitment to linking defense industrial ecosystems and creating resilient technology value chains. They also appreciated the continuation of cooperation via an inter-agency monitoring system run under the framework of the June 2023-launched bilateral Strategic Trade Dialogue. The two leaders applauded the signing of an agreement to establish the India-U.S. Global Challenges Institute, with a combined initial commitment of at least $10 million USD, between Indian universities, represented by the Council of Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT Council), and American universities. According to a statement, the Global Challenges Institute will bring together top research and higher education institutions from both countries, including those that are not members of the AAU or IIT, to advance new scientific and technological frontiers. These include cooperation in areas such as sustainable energy and agriculture, pandemic preparedness, advanced materials, semiconductor technology and manufacturing, telecommunications, artificial intelligence, and quantum science.
The leaders also applauded the rise in multi-institutional collaborative education partnerships in the fields of critical and emerging technologies, such as those between New York University-Tandon and the IIT Kanpur Advanced Research Center and the Joint Research Centers of the State University of New York at Buffalo and the IIT Delhi, Kanpur, Jodhpur, and BHU.
