Space, nuclear trade eyed at US–India summit

Meeting a few days after their countries’ respective spacecraft entered Mars orbit, President Barack Obama and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi on 30 September pledged cooperation in space, clean energy, climate change mitigation, and other scientific programs. Coinciding with the summit, the heads of the two nations’ space agencies signed separate agreements to delineate their respective roles in building and launching an Earth-orbiting satellite and to plan for a future joint Mars mission.

Obama and Modi also agreed to take further steps to implement the US–India civil nuclear cooperation agreement. Under that pact, which took effect in 2008, India agreed to open its civilian nuclear reactors—but not its nuclear weapons facilities—to international inspection. In exchange, the US agreed to export reactors, nuclear fuel, and other nuclear technologies to India. The 47 other countries that export nuclear-related products, known collectively as the Nuclear Suppliers Group, later followed the US lead.

Nonproliferation activists have criticized the agreement because India has not ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; they argue that the import of nuclear fuel will free up domestic output of enriched uranium for diversion to weapons.

In a joint statement, the heads of state blamed administrative issues, concerns over liability, and technical issues for continuing to hold up exports of Westinghouse and GE Hitachi reactors to India. “We will partner to ensure that both countries have affordable, clean, reliable, and diverse sources of energy, including through our efforts to bring American-origin nuclear power technologies to India.”

According to their communiqué, the two leaders also agreed to strengthen and expand cooperation on clean energy by accelerating the integration of renewable energy into India’s power grid and by promoting renewable and energy-efficient technologies.

“Climate change threatens both our countries, and we will join together to mitigate its impact and adapt to our changing environment,” said the statement of cooperation endorsed by the leaders. “We will address the consequences of unchecked pollution through cooperation by our governments, science, and academic communities.”

Jointly, NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are to build and launch an Earth-observing satellite, the NASA–ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), which is targeted for launch in 2020. NASA will provide one synthetic aperture radar instrument and other hardware, and ISRO will contribute a second SAR operating at a different frequency, the spacecraft bus, and the launch vehicle. The satellite will be capable of measuring changes on Earth’s surface that are less than a centimeter across, according to a NASA press release. Ice-sheet collapse, ecosystem disturbances, and natural hazards are potential areas of research for the mission.

On 21 September NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft arrived at Mars. MAVEN is the first spacecraft dedicated to exploring the tenuous upper atmosphere of the red planet. ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission, India’s first spacecraft launched to Mars, arrived two days later to study the Martian surface and atmosphere and to demonstrate technologies needed for interplanetary missions.