INDO JAPAN SPACE TIES

INDO JAPAN SPACE TIES

Subject: International Relations

Context: Indian and Japanese space agencies reviewed cooperation in earth observation, lunar cooperation and satellite navigation, and also agreed to explore opportunities for cooperation in “space situational awareness and professional exchange programme”.

Concept:

• This was agreed during a bilateral meeting between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) held virtually.
• Both agencies signed an Implementing Arrangement for collaborative activities on rice crop area and air quality monitoring using satellite data.
• India and Japan are already working on a joint lunar polar exploration (LUPEX) mission and the two space agencies have been working on the mission that aims to send a lander and rover to the Moon’s south pole around 2024.

Space Situational Awareness (SSA)

• Space Situational Awareness (SSA) is the science of tracking objects (man-made and natural) that are in orbit and also predicting whet they would be at a given point in time.
• So far, only America, Russia and Europe have similar established capabilities in place to track space objects and share collision warnings.
• ISRO has set up a Directorate of Space Situational Awareness and Management aiming at protecting high valued space assets from space debris close approaches and collisions.
• To carryout systematically all activities related to SSAM, a control centre is being established at Bengaluru.