Distinguished visitors from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) were welcomed to ESA's ESOC mission control centre in Darmstadt, Germany, in December 2023 to celebrate ESA's support to ISRO's Aditya-L1 and Chandrayaan-3 missions and to discuss expanding the scope of the organisations' cooperation.
Ms Nigar Shaji (Project Director of Aditya-L1, URSC), Mr Veeramuthuvel Palanivel (Project Director of Chandrayaan-3, URSC) and Mr Raghavendra M. R. (Deputy Director, Ground Stations Network Area, ISTRAC) handed out certificates to the ESA teams that provided support to both missions during critical phases and who continue to support Aditya-L1.
Simon Plum (Head of ESA Mission Operations), Holger Krag (Head of the ESA Space Safety Programme) and Ramesh Chellathurai (ESA Service Manager for Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya-L1 missions) welcomed the ISRO team on behalf of ESA and presented a letter of appreciation.
Looking to the future, ESA and ISRO teams discussed the possibilities for collaboration on projects such as:
ESA’s Proba-3 mission, which is due to launch from India in 2024
ESA ground station support for ISRO’s Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme
ESA ground station support for ISRO's future Lunar and Mars missions
ISRO participation in ESA’s Moonlight initiative for lunar communications
