The director of Chinese National Space Agency Sun Laiyan met ISRO chief Madhavan Nair for cooperation in space-related research between the two nations.
Chief of China’s space agency, Isro boss discuss joint ventures
HYDERABAD: In a significant development, the director of Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA) Sun Laiyan met Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief Madhavan Nair for cooperation in space-related research between the two nations. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) being held in Hyderabad.
Madhavan Nair said issues of cooperation related to telemedicine and village education resource centre were discussed. “We will come up with a joint programme in the next six months,” Nair added.
The meeting was significant considering that China has not been keen on joint ventures.
However, the tone of CNSA chief at IAC suggested that China was now venturing into civilian sector in a big way. During the opening day of the event, Sun Laiyan continuously stressed the need for international cooperation in space exploration and technology. Yao Jianting, deputy division director of CNSA, however, said that there was nothing new in the Chinese initiative. “The new thing is that China is now keen on increasing international cooperation with developing countries including India,” Jianting said.
He said it was only natural that China and India should cooperate in space ventures. “There are a lot of things that are common between the people of the two countries,” he said.
Laiyan also mentioned that disaster management and telecommunications were the two fields that China sought India’s cooperation. Sun Laiyan also met the chief of European Space Agency (ESA) Jean-Jacques Dordain during which a wide range of discussion took place.
Dordain said that cooperation on a number of issues including China’s moon mission were discussed.
“We also had discussion on our respective missions to Mars for which both the agencies have sought Russian cooperation,” he added.
The other areas of discussion included disaster management and science operations for further ESA missions. Sun Laiyan also met the chief of Japan’s space agency.
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