In a major boost to India-Australia space collaboration, Australian PM Anthony Albanese Thursday, during a joint statement with PM Narendra Modi, announced establishment of a temporary space tracking infrastructure in Australia to actively support India’s maiden human spaceflight programme ‘Gaganyaan’.“As we expand our cooperation in space and technology, we have agreed to commission a temporary space tracking terminal on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, which will support India’s landmark Gaganyaan Human Space Flight Programme,” Albanese said. The facility will ensure continuous communication with Isro’s crew module during its initial uncrewed test flights and subsequent crewed missions when it will orbit Earth.During the “Melbourne Meets Modi” event, Modi said, “You have also seen that India successfully landed Chandrayaan on Moon’s south pole. No other country has achieved this. But India was not satisfied with only this achievement. Because India believes – ‘Grow More, Achieve More’. That is why India is now preparing to send its Gaganyaan mission into space. India is also moving towards the goal of building its own space station,” he said.Modi described as “unparalleled” the outcomes from his talks with Albanese, especially in areas of renewable energy, climate action, nuclear energy, critical minerals, technology and education.
