India-France Space Ties Widen to Gaganyaan, TRISHNA and Start-ups

A senior French delegation headed by Prof. Philippe Baptiste, France's Minister for Higher Education, Research and Space, called on Dr Jitendra Singh in New Delhi. Dr Jitendra Singh is Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, and Minister of State in the PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space. The talks covered the Space Summit, the Year of Innovation, CEFIPRA and the Blue Economy.

Six decades of joint work

The minister traced the relationship back to sounding rocket trials of the 1960s, saying the two countries began working together almost as soon as their space agencies were born. He named two satellites already flown jointly by ISRO and CNES — Megha-Tropiques and SARAL — along with engine work for launch vehicles, as landmarks of that record.

TRISHNA and human spaceflight

Work on the third joint satellite, TRISHNA, is moving ahead well, the minister said. He thanked CNES for helping the Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme, both by supplying consumables and by training flight surgeons. Teams on the two sides have opened talks on microgravity research and parabolic flights, which support astronaut health studies. A Water Cycle and TRISHNA Mission event is due in Bengaluru on October 11, where ISRO will provide outreach material and senior officials will speak on the satellite.

Start-ups enter the picture

Reforms have changed who builds space hardware in India. More than 400 Indian space start-ups now work on rockets, satellites and downstream applications, and the minister argued that the next stage of the partnership should draw in industry and these young firms, not only the two governments and their agencies.

Wider science canvas

The Year of Innovation, opened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the French President in February, frames the wider effort. Cooperation also runs through biotechnology, digital sciences and ocean sciences, with CEFIPRA and Indo-French joint centres as the standing channels. Dr Jitendra Singh pointed to the Deep Ocean Mission as a further opening under the Blue Economy. Prof. Baptiste called TRISHNA a strong example of what the two countries can build together and backed closer work on astronaut health and microgravity.