December 16, 1997
 

Department of Space (DOS) and Department of Science and Technology (DST) of India today (December 16,1997) signed, in Washington, a memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and National Oceanographic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) of USA for scientific cooperation in the areas of earth and atmospheric sciences.  Dr. K. Kasturirangan, Secretary, Department of Space and Prof. V.S. Ramamurthy, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology signed the MOU on behalf of India and Mr. Daniel Goldin, Administrator, NASA and Dr. D. James Baker, Administrator, NOAA, signed the MOU on behalf of the USA in the presence of Ambassador of India to the US, Mr. Naresh Chandra.  The MOU envisages exchange of data received from the Very High Resolution Radiometer (VHRR) of India's INSAT satellites and the data received from the US research and operation satellite systems including Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES).  Cooperation in the analysis of the satellite data, meteorological modeling and forecasting techniques including those related to monsoons and cyclones is also covered under the MOU.
 
 

Another MOU was signed by ISRO with NASA, which provides for the reception of data, by the US from the Modular Opto-electronic Scanner on board the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite, IRS-P3.  MOS is an 18-channel spectrometer developed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR).  It was flown as one of the payloads on board IRS-P3 launched by PSLV-D3 on March 21,1996 as part of the cooperation between ISRO and DLR  (besides MOS, IRS-P3 carries a Wide Filed Sensor and an X-ray astronomy payload).  The MOU is jointly entered into by ISRO, NASA and the German Aerospace Center DLR.  The tripartite MOU also envisages further cooperation among the scientists of the three countries in analyzing the data for measurement and better understanding of the ocean and atmosphere parameters from space.