Sep 27, 2007, 14:53 GMT
New Delhi - India's successful record of space programmes is inviting collaboration offers from across the world for launching satellites to improve health care, a top scientist with the country's space agency ISRO said on Thursday at the on-going 58th International Astronautical Congress.
'Most advanced countries want to collaborate with India in using space services for education, healthcare, management of natural resources and weather forecast and disaster management,' said Madhavanan Nair, chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
'Other countries are trying to copy our models for tele-education, tele-medicine and village resource centres,' he said.
'The US and European space agencies (NASA and ESA) are already onboard our lunar mission (Chandrayaan-1) with their experimental payloads as piggybacks for studying the origin and evolution of the earth's only natural satellite (Moon),' Nair added.
'NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and China have also offered to cooperate with us beyond the ISS (International Space Station) to explore the moon and other planets,' Nair affirmed.
In lunar exploration, Japan has offered to share the data from its Kaguya mission and join hands with ISRO for setting up a base on the moon for explorations of other planets in future.
'Latin American and African countries are keen to implement our space programmes in improving education and healthcare of their people. Similarly, the Asia-Pacific nations are seeking our expertise in disaster management, flood control, exploration of minerals and identification of ground water resources,' said Nair.
ISRO plans not to seek NASA's assistance in its proposed manned mission and beyond.
'Experience over the decades, especially during the sanctions period when dual-use technologies were denied, shows it would be prudent to be self-reliant in developing our own capabilities for taking up future missions in space, to the moon, Mars and inter-planetary explorations,' said ISRO's chairman.
Indo-American Sunita Williams, who recently carried out research for a record 195 days in the International Space Station, is among more than 2000 space scientists, heads of leading space agencies and astronauts, who are participating in the five-day congress that began Monday in the south-eastern city and technology hub Hyderabad.
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