19 July 2011

Totally Pathetic Indo-US joint Civil Space Statement

Are you kidding? The political leaders of both nations have put a priority on space cooperation, and this pathetic, weak, anemic statement is the best their respective civil space agencies can come up with?

- Oooo, I'm soooo excited about potential cooperation in sharing data, and "possibilities" of joint experiements, and "willinness to discuss".
- I'm sure children in both continents are jumping up and down, unable to contain their excitement at a potential future career in data sharing and GNSS compatibility

The U.S. – India Joint Space Working Group on Civil Space Cooperation met in July 2011 in Bangalore. Building on the successful Chandrayan-1 lunar mission, NASA and ISRO reviewed potential areas for future cooperation in earth observation, space exploration, space sciences and satellite navigation. Both sides agreed for early finalization three new implementing arrangements for sharing satellite data on oceans and global weather patterns. Recognising the research opportunities available on the International Space Station, both sides agreed to explore the possibilities of joint experiments. NASA reiterated its willingness to discuss potential cooperation with ISRO on human spaceflight activities. The two sides also agreed to expand upon previous work in the area of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) with the goal of promoting compatibility and interoperability between the U.S. Global Positioning System, India’s Navigation systems, and those of other countries.

Compare this pathetic, anemic failure to the ambitious vision of Dr. Rajagopalan in an earlier post, or the exciting initiative posted by the NSS-Kalam initiative.

Are we really funding people to fly halfway around the world to discuss discussing potential cooperation, with no goals, no deadlines, no resourcing, no vision?

This is the best that can be offered up when the two nations are having a strategic dialog?

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