In a significant development, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to launch its Venus mission in 2025 in partnership with French space agency CNES.
The VIRAL (Venus Infrared Atmospheric Gases Linker) instrument co-developed with the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos and the LATMOS atmospheres, environments and space observations laboratory attached to the French national scientific research centre CNRS has been selected by the ISRO after a request for proposals, it said in a statement.
ISRO chairman K Sivan and CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall had extensive meetings and into areas where both the space agencies could further cooperation in space.
“In the domain of space exploration, France will be taking part in ISRO’s mission to Venus, scheduled to launch in 2025. CNES will coordinate and prepare the French contribution, the first time a French payload will be flown on an Indian exploration mission,” CNES said in a statement.
The mission to Venus comes after the Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) and Moon missions Chandrayaan-1 and 2.
France has been very helpful with our mission to help send our astronaut into outer space and had provided its expertise in flight medicine.
“The two nations are pooling their expertise, notably in the domains of space medicine, astronaut health monitoring and life support. Initial exchanges have concentrated on training for India’s flight physicians and technical teams and the supply of CNES flight systems,” it added.
Also, France has become an important country in which India has extensive collaboration in the strategic sectors of nuclear, space and defence after the US and Russia.