Modi in US: Amid Prime Minister Narendra Modi's three-day visit to the United States, the White House on Thursday said that India has agreed to sign the Artemis Accords, joining several countries together on civil space exploration. Moreover, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have agreed on a joint mission to the International Space Station next year.
The Artemis Accords, established in 2020, is a non-binding, practical set of principles that are used to guide space exploration cooperation among nations and aims to extend space exploration to Mars and beyond. There were 25 signatories upto May 2023 including Australia, Italy, Japan and Canada.
Before PM Modi's meeting with US President Joe Biden, a senior White House official told PTI, "On space, we will be able to announce that India is signing the Artemis Accords, which advance a common vision for space exploration for the benefit of all humankind." The official also informed that a strategic framework for human spaceflight cooperation will be developed by NASA and ISRO this year.
India-US partnership in semiconductor manufacturing
Meanwhile, companies in the US are also partnering with India to create a semiconductor ecosystem for the promotion of supply chain diversification. Earlier today, PM Modi held a talk with American chip maker Micron Technology and invited the company to boost semiconductor manufacturing in India.
Micron Technology announced that they will invest more than USD 800 million, which will amount to USD 2.75 billion in semiconductor assembly and test facility in India, accompanied by the financial support provided by Indian authorities. Furthermore, a new semiconductor centre for commercialisation and innovation in India was announced by the US Applied Sciences and Lam Research, a separate semiconductor manufacturing product company has decided to initiate a training programme for over 60,000 Indian engineers to facilitate India's semiconductor workforce development goals.
Meanwhile, PM Modi also invited CEO of General Electric H Lawrence Culp to play a greater role in the aviation and renewable energy sector in India. According to the White House official, the US will support India's membership in the Mineral Security Partnership, led by the US Department of State and focusing on the critical minerals supply chain.
AI and quantum technologies
India and the US have also signed a new arrangement that focuses on the implementation on artificial intelligence advanced wireless and quantum technologies. They have established a joint Indo-US quantum coordination mechanism to facilitate increased collaboration between the industries and governments of both countries, as per the official.
The two nations are also coordinating on 5G and 6G technologies, as well as Open Radio Access Network (RAN) systems, which will announce partnerships to promote US scale deployments with operators and vendors of both countries in India.
“On people-to-people ties and higher education, leveraging the enormous talent, particularly in STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields in both countries and coming out of a task force chaired by the Association of American Universities and counterparts at the Indian Institute of Technologies would like to welcome the launch for the university network with Indo US global challenges to federal Spark, new research partnerships and exchanges in fields including agriculture, energy and health,” said the official.
