European Space Agency

On 7 May, ESA announced the signing of the agreement, stating that the cooperation would focus on activities in low Earth orbit, with provisions for potential future missions to the Moon. The announcement specifically outlined plans to work together on the “interoperability of rendezvous and docking systems to allow their respective spacecraft to work together.” Other near-term areas of collaboration outlined in the agreement include astronaut training, analogue space missions on Earth, and parabolic flight training.

In addition to near-term collaborations, ESA also revealed that the agreement could pave the way for missions to India’s planned Bharatiya Antariksh Station by European astronauts.

ESA’s agreement with ISRO comes less than a week after the Trump Administration released a proposed budget that would slash funding for NASA.

In response to the White House’s proposed NASA budget cuts, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher wrote that the agency will continue to forge strong ties with space agencies from around the world. And in a subtle rebuke of the Trump Administration’s proposed cuts, Aschbacher added that ESA was committed to being a “reliable partner.”