NDTV to NASA President Bill Nelson, as well as Sen
New Delhi:
NASA chief Bill Nelson, Senator, told NDTV that flying into space is a valuable experience for any politician. The US space agency will train an Indian astronaut to fly to the International Space Station later next year for a two-week science mission.
Asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi could be an astronaut, Mr Nelson, who is currently visiting India, pointed out that he had flown in the space shuttle as a politician and that PM Modi was a “space enthusiast”.
“Flying in space is a valuable experience for any politician, more so for a head of state… From space there are no political boundaries, no religious boundaries, no ethnic boundaries… one is a citizen of Earth,” he said. was added.
He said India should decide its role in the Artemis project, a lunar habitation project, to prepare for human missions to Mars.
NASA plans to send the first woman and the first person of color to the moon as part of this project.
“India can be an active partner as we engage the universe as star sailors in the cosmic ocean,” he said.
Asked what NASA expects from India for the Artemis project, Mr Nelson said there would be a lot of scope for international collaboration on lunar missions and the details were yet to be decided.
Asked whether this would happen without the cooperation of the Indian Space Agency, he said future lunar missions would be with “commercial partners and international partners”.
America is going to the moon and then Mars for a “stable presence,” he said. Many countries are interested in cooperation, he said.
This will be the first time in 50 years that NASA astronauts will go to the moon. Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin were the first men to land on the moon in 1969.
Nisar satellite or “NASA ISRO Artificial Aperture Radar Satellite” is more than Artemis project. This satellite will become critical to survival on Earth because of the composite 3D images it transmits of the planet.
Operated under the NASA-ISRO partnership, the satellite will launch from Sriharikota in the first quarter of 2024. This satellite will monitor climate change and Earth degradation.
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