ISRO in Talks With Boeing, Blue Origin, Voyager For Space Partnerships
India's space agency ISRO is exploring joint collaborations with Boeing Co., Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin LLC and Voyager Space Holdings Inc., as an official visit by the head of NASA highlights the growing level of cooperation between the US and India in outer space.
The potential partnerships could also involve Indian commercial entities, India's Department of Space said in a statement Wednesday.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson is visiting several locations in India this week, including Bengaluru-based facilities that are testing and integrating spacecraft for a joint US-Indian Earth-observing mission scheduled for launch in 2024.
Nelson's visit underscores NASA's deepening space alliance with the Indian Space Research Organization, which this year notched several accomplishments including the landing of a spacecraft near the moon's south pole in August.
The two space agencies are planning to send an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station next year. In June, Nelson joined a ceremony in Washington when India signed the Artemis Accords, a US-backed initiative with more than two dozen other countries to establish principles for space exploration.
Blue Origin is “very keen” on considering using an Indian rocket as a crew capsule to service its proposed space station Orbital Reef in low-Earth orbit, ISRO Chairman S. Somanath told The Times of India in June. Larsen & Toubro Ltd., an Indian manufacturer of engineering equipment, is in early discussions with Blue Origin to supply orbital launch capabilities, according to local media.
Denver-based Voyager in July announced a preliminary agreement with ISRO's commercial arm, NewSpace India Ltd., to explore using Indian rockets to launch and deploy small satellites.
Voyager
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