NewzVille Desk
ISRO and European Space Agency (ESA) recently signed an agreement to cooperate on activities related to Astronaut Training, Mission Implementation and Research Experiments. This agreement provides an opportunity for undertaking joint microgravity experiments.
In this regard, microgravity research experiments by Indian Principal Investigators (PIs) have been jointly shortlisted some Institutes by ISRO & ESA for implementation on International Space Station (ISS) during Axiom-4 mission. These institutes are: International Centre for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology (ICGEB); Dept. of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Dept. of Space & College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Kerala Agricultural University.
These shortlisted microgravity experiments are under various phases of evaluation in view of safety driven operational philosophy of human spaceflight missions. Further, ISRO & ESA will be jointly carrying out human research and other scientific/ technology demonstration experiments.
In addition to these, cooperation in microgravity research with other space agencies during Axiom-4 mission is also being actively pursued.
The field of microgravity research with potential applications in human health research, physical sciences, material sciences, novel pharmaceutical development and biotechnology offers significant opportunities to national scientific community. Indian Human Space Program, Gaganyaan aims to encourage and support Indian scientific community in microgravity research activities through flight opportunities in ISRO’s missions as well as joint international efforts.
