NASA Formally Invites ISRO to Join Lunar Base Development Project

The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has officially invited the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to join the programme to build a permanent base on the Moon. The move marks a new, increasingly close chapter in space cooperation between the two countries.

The invitation was conveyed at the 9th U.S.-India Civil Space Joint Working Group (CSJWG) meeting held at ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru, India. The meeting was attended by senior space officials from both countries, including Secretary of India’s Department of Space V. Narayanan and U.S. Ambassador to India Sergio Gor.

Through a post on social media platform X, NASA expressed its commitment to continuing the successful scientific collaboration. “Building on our successful science collaboration, NASA reaffirms its interest in having @ISRO join the Lunar Base. We are going back to the Moon to stay, and we are bringing our partners with us,” NASA wrote.

This cooperation is part of NASA’s Artemis programme, which aims to establish a permanent base in the Moon’s south pole region. The area is a primary focus because of the presence of craters shielded from sunlight that are estimated to hold large reserves of water ice.

The two countries also agreed to follow up on discussions regarding the open sharing of scientific data under the Artemis Accords framework. The Artemis Accords are a diplomatic guide initiated by the United States to govern safe, peaceful, and sustainable lunar exploration. India signed the agreement in 2023 as the 27th country, and membership has since grown to 70 nations.

For India, NASA’s collaboration offer is closely aligned with its domestic space exploration roadmap. The country has a long-term target of building a lunar base, establishing a space station in lunar orbit, and sending Indian astronauts to the Moon’s surface in the 2040s.

The cooperation also strengthens bilateral ties between the two agencies, which previously succeeded in launching the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) Earth observation satellite mission, as well as the involvement of an Indian astronaut in a flight to the International Space Station (ISS).