ISRO, European Space Agency Ink Ground Support Agreement For India's 'Gaganyaan' Human Spaceflight Mission

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the European Space Agency (ESA) have formalised their collaboration with the signing of a Technical Implementing Plan (TIP).

The agreement enables ESA to provide essential ground tracking support for India’s ambitious Gaganyaan human spaceflight missions.

"Strengthening global collaboration! On Dec 4, 2024, ISRO and ESA signed a Technical Implementing Plan to provide ground tracking support for the Gaganyaan Mission. A major step for seamless orbital operations and data continuity!" ISRO posted on X on Friday (6 December).

Anilkumar A K, director of ISTRAC, represented ISRO in signing the agreement, while Dietmar Pilz, director of technology, engineering, and quality and director of ESTEC, Netherlands, signed on behalf of ESA.

The signing ceremony took place at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre and was witnessed by ISRO Chairman S Somanath and Didier van der Hasselt, the Belgian Ambassador to India, as per an official ISRO statement shared on Twitter.

As part of the agreement, ESA will offer ground station support to ensure seamless data communication and monitoring during Gaganyaan's orbital operations.

This marks a significant milestone in the ongoing partnership between ISRO and ESA, which has seen the two organisations collaborate on numerous successful missions in the past.

The Gaganyaan project aims to demonstrate India’s capability for human spaceflight by sending a three-member crew into a 400 km orbit for a three-day mission, followed by a safe return to Earth with a splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

On Thursday (5 December), ISRO successfully launched the PSLV-C59/PROBA-3 Mission, placing ESA’s satellites into their designated orbit.

The PSLV-C59 vehicle carried the Proba-3 spacecraft, an ESA technology demonstration mission focused on precision formation-flying.

This innovative mission involves two satellites working together as a single large structure to test advanced formation-flying and meeting technologies.

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