India and France are stepping up cooperation in the space sector, with companies from the two countries signing three new agreements. According to an official announcement, the agreements, announced at the International Space Summit in Paris include satellite launches, space surveillance and microsatellite technology. It include contracts worth more than five million euros between France’s Safran Space and India’s Dhruva Space for technologies to be used in India’s planned 52-satellite space-surveillance constellation. As per the announcement, the constellation is envisaged to deploy satellites between 2027 and 2030.
In another major deal, French launch-services provider RIDE! has signed an agreement to launch two satellites for ‘TakeMeToSpace’, an Indian company described as the country’s first designer of orbital data centres. As per the announcement, the agreement builds on several years of cooperation between RIDE! and Indian space companies, including the recent integration, launch and return of a European atmospheric re-entry capsule aboard India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
The partnerships are aimed at supporting India’s sovereign space capabilities and marks a further expansion of cooperation between French industry and India’s Space sector.
The new agreements come against the backdrop of more than five decades of space cooperation between India and France, built around the partnership between ISRO and France’s space agency CNES.
The two-day, first edition of the International Space Summit has began yesterday, bringing together governments, companies, space agencies and scientists.
