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U.S. joins India's Moon mission

Chandrayaan-1, India's first space probe for the scientific exploration of a celestial body, has matured into a truly international effort. Last year, the European Space Agency formally signed up to send its scientific instruments on the Indian spacecraft that will head for the Moon in two years' time; the Bulgarians too are contributing an instrument. Now the United States has come on board with the signing of Memoranda of Understanding between its National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The two scientific instruments, weighing merely a few kg, from the U.S. join an already wide array of cameras and other devices the Chandrayaan will carry to thoroughly map the Moon's surface and understand its chemical composition. It is to ISRO's credit that it reserved space for instruments from other countries in addition to the five being developed by Indian scientists. There has been a resurgence of interest in the Moon in recent years. Europe's SMART-1 satellite has been orbiting it since November 2004 and China is reportedly planning to launch its Chang'e 1 lunar orbiter by the end of next year.

But it is difficult to interpret the NASA-ISRO MoU as heralding a new era of bilateral space cooperation. The United States and NASA played a key role in helping the Indian space programme in its infancy. But the relationship soured after Washington began aggressively to pursue a policy of `non-proliferation' that centred on controlling access to `dual-use' technologies. The creation of the Missile Technology Control Regime in 1987 and consequent changes in U.S. export control laws had a direct impact on the Indian space programme. For instance, these laws were used to target India's agreement with the Soviet Union for cryogenic engine technology. India's nuclear tests of 1998 led to even stiffer restrictions. Although many of them have since been eased, the hurdles posed by U.S. export controls for the Indian space programme are still considerable. An effort by Boeing and ISRO to jointly build satellites for the international market collapsed, largely on account of onerous U.S. licensing procedures. By contrast, a similar collaboration with the European aerospace company EADS Astrium has bagged its first contract to build a satellite for Paris-based Eutelsat. Another area of friction is commercial satellite launches, which Washington is able to control because many satellites contain critical U.S.-made components. ISRO has reportedly lost a commercial launch contract as a result of uncertainty over securing American clearances. The Indo-U.S. Working Group on Civil Space Cooperation must find ways of simplifying the U.S. licensing process. Outer space can become the ultimate frontier the two countries can explore together — or squabble over.

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