MUMBAI: Indian Space Research Organisation and French Space agency (CNES) have signed a partnership agreement in satellite launch technology. The pact was inked between ISRO chairman Kiran Kumar and CNES president Jean-Yves Le Gall in the presence of the visiting French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Marc Ayrault.

Space cooperation between India and France spans over 50 years and is a cornerstone of the Indo-French strategic partnership. Joining forces with Team Indus on this maiden private mission to land a rover on the moon, CNES is sending the French technology for the first time on lunar terrain.

With the new pact, India and France will improve cooperation on an upcoming lunar rover and future space launchers. Strengthening the CNES-ISRO partnership will enable France to benefit from the Indian model of streamlining the costs of space programmes.

Ayrault, accompanied by the French delegation, was given a guided tour of ISTRAC (ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network) by the Kumar, according to a French Consulate release, PTI reported.

ISTRAC monitors Indian space missions, including the two Indo-French satellites currently in orbit for collecting data to track climate change. ISRO is the second partner of CNES, in terms of volume, after NASA. Of comparable size and sharing similar objectives, the space programmes of both countries are complementary, it was noted.

Later, Ayrault met Indian "NewSpace" start-up CEO Rahul Narayan. This start-up put forward TeamIndus, the only Indian team competing for the Google Lunar XPRIZE, a global competition for engineers and entrepreneurs to develop low-cost methods of robotic space exploration.

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