Nasa invites Isro for Moon base programme, seeks wider space cooperation with India
NASA has invited ISRO to participate in its Moon Base programme, seeking wider space cooperation with India
The invitation was extended during the 9th meeting of the India-US Civil Space Joint Working Group (CSJWG), hosted by ISRO in Bengaluru on 5-6 August 2026
The meeting was addressed by the ISRO Chairman and Secretary of the Department of Space, and the US Ambassador to India, with working-level co-chairs from ISRO's UR Rao Satellite Centre and the US Department of State
Discussions covered expanding cooperation on civil and commercial space activity, sharing open scientific data, and pursuing future human spaceflight technology partnerships
The proposal builds on the existing bilateral framework under the Artemis Accords, which India joined in 2023
The Artemis Accords and India's Membership
The Artemis Accords are a set of non-binding political commitments for civil exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond, established by NASA and the US Department of State in October 2020. They operationalise principles from the 1967 Outer Space Treaty — including peaceful use, transparency, and interoperability — into concrete norms for lunar activity such as public release of scientific data, registration of space objects, and "safety zones" to prevent interference between missions.
Key Details
- First signed on October 13, 2020, by eight founding nations (Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, UAE, UK, and the US)
- India signed the Artemis Accords on June 21, 2023, becoming the 27th signatory nation; membership has since grown to over 55 countries
- The Accords are political commitments, not a treaty, and operate alongside — not in place of — existing international space law such as the Outer Space Treaty (1967) and the Registration Convention (1976)
- The Accords are distinct from the older, largely dormant 1979 Moon Agreement, which sought to internationalise lunar resources but was never ratified by major spacefaring nations
NASA's Moon Base invitation to ISRO is a direct, mission-level extension of the cooperative framework India joined via the Artemis Accords, moving bilateral space ties from a political commitment toward concrete technical collaboration.
India-US Civil Space Joint Working Group (CSJWG)
The CSJWG is the standing bilateral mechanism through which ISRO and NASA coordinate civil space cooperation, distinct from defence or trade-related dialogues between the two countries. It reflects the institutionalised, working-level track of India-US space diplomacy, alongside political-level engagements such as the annual India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue.
Key Details
- The 9th CSJWG meeting was held in Bengaluru on 5-6 August 2026, hosted by ISRO for the first time
- It is co-chaired on the Indian side by a senior ISRO official and on the US side by the Department of State's Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
- The mechanism has previously coordinated joint missions, including the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite
- Space cooperation is one strand of the broader India-US Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET), launched in 2023, which also covers semiconductors, AI, and defence co-production
The Moon Base invitation was formally raised within this working group, showing how institutional bilateral mechanisms — not one-off announcements — drive India's deepening space partnership with the US.
NISAR — India's Prior Joint Mission with NASA
The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission is the first major joint satellite built by NASA and ISRO, providing the technical trust and interoperability precedent cited when the two agencies discuss further cooperation, including a Moon Base role for India.
Key Details
- NISAR was launched on ISRO's GSLV-F16 rocket on 30 July 2025 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota
- It carries a dual-frequency radar payload — an L-band radar (contributed by NASA/JPL) and an S-band radar (contributed by ISRO) — the first satellite to combine both frequencies
- It scans nearly all of Earth's land and ice surfaces roughly every 12 days to track changes in ecosystems, ice sheets, and ground deformation
- The mission cost was jointly shared, with NASA contributing the larger share of instrumentation and India providing the launch vehicle and satellite bus
NISAR demonstrated that ISRO and NASA can co-develop and operate complex space hardware together, which officials cited as the working precedent supporting an ISRO role in the more technically demanding Moon Base programme.
India's Own Human Spaceflight Roadmap
India's indigenous crewed spaceflight programme provides the context for why deeper NASA cooperation on lunar habitation is strategically significant for ISRO's longer-term ambitions.
Key Details
- Gaganyaan, India's first indigenous crewed spaceflight mission, is being preceded by uncrewed test flights and is targeted for around 2027
- India separately sent an astronaut-designate to the International Space Station in 2025 via a commercial mission arrangement, making him the second Indian in space after Rakesh Sharma's 1984 flight aboard a Soviet spacecraft
- India has announced longer-term goals of an indigenous space station (Bharatiya Antariksha Station) and a crewed lunar landing in the following decade, to be preceded by uncrewed precursor missions
- ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 mission achieved a soft landing near the lunar south pole in August 2023, making India the first country to land in that region and the fourth to achieve any soft lunar landing after the erstwhile USSR, the US, and China
Participation in NASA's Moon Base effort would let ISRO gain lunar-surface systems experience relevant to its own staged human spaceflight and lunar-landing goals, rather than developing every capability independently.
- Artemis Accords established: October 13, 2020, by NASA and the US Department of State
- India signed the Artemis Accords: June 21, 2023, as the 27th signatory nation
- 9th CSJWG meeting: hosted by ISRO in Bengaluru, 5-6 August 2026
- NISAR launch: July 30, 2025, via GSLV-F16 from Sriharikota
- Chandrayaan-3 soft landing near lunar south pole: August 23, 2023
- Gaganyaan crewed mission: targeted for around 2027, after uncrewed test flights