The United States and India set an innovative partnership, related to space, as part of further cooperation between the two countries in this field.
In a joint statement, issued by the White House after the meeting of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with President Donald Trump, the two countries said, that create INDUS Innovation, “Innovative Bridge” between the two countries to promote work in space, energy and other new technologies.
INDUS Innovation will be modeled after the Indo-US defense ecosystem, or INDUS-X, founded in 2023 year. INDUS-X is designed to support cooperation between the defense industries of the two countries, including competitions involving companies in two countries to solve specific military tasks.
Some of these works relate to cooperation in space. In October 2023 2018, the US Air Force Research Laboratory announced joint research and development agreements, or CRADA, with two Indian startups in space exploration and Earth observation technologies. As part of INDUS-X, the Defense Innovation Unit in November announced the INDUS-X Challenge for Technologies to Detect and Track Spacecraft in Contested Low Earth Orbit Environments.
The joint statement did not provide any additional details about INDUS Innovation, including specific areas of interest, related to space, at the same time, a similar effort called the U.S.-India TRUST was announced, або Transforming the Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technology, to promote bilateral cooperation on "critical and emerging technologies", such as space, "while encouraging the use of proven technology providers and ensuring the protection of confidential technology".
The countries undertook to continue cooperation on civil and commercial space issues, highlighting the flight of an Indian astronaut as part of the private Ax-4 astronaut mission to the International Space Station, scheduled for spring. The statement also mentioned the "early" launch of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Science Mission (NISAR).
Additional cooperation "regarding long-duration human flights into space will continue, safety of space flights and exchange of professional experience in new areas, including protecting the planet" and in various areas of commercial space activity from launch to space tourism and space manufacturing.
Source: https://spacenews.com/united-states-and-india-to-expand-collaboration-in-space-innovation/