On August 17, 2023, a high-ranking team from Mauritius led by the Honourable Minister for Information Technology, Communication and Innovation (MITCI), Mr. Darsanand Balgobin, visited ISRO and had a productive meeting.
Dr. Kaviraj Sharma Sukon, the Chairman of the Board of the Mauritius Research & Innovation Council, was with the Honourable Minister. Shri Somanath S, Chairman, ISRO/Secretary, DOS, met with the delegation at the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru. Senior authorities including Mr. M. Sankaran, director of the U. R. Rao Satellite Centre, Mr. Shantanu Bhatawdekar, scientific secretary of ISRO, Dr. Prakash Chauhan, director of the National Remote Sensing Centre, and others took part in the debate.
ISRO’s chairman and DOS’s secretary While expressing gratitude to Mauritius for hosting ISRO’s station for about three decades, the report listed prospective space technology applications that could help Mauritius. The Honourable Minister emphasised the unique needs and goals of Mauritius.
The proposed India-Mauritius cooperative satellite, a microsatellite intended for remote sensing from Low Earth Orbit, was presented by ISRO with its technical specifications and prospective applications.
Plans to train Mauritius authorities in three areas—satellite construction, satellite operation, and using the data acquired from this satellite for diverse applications—were also explored.
This meeting has also improved the overall scope of India-Mauritius space cooperation through
- sharing data about Mauritius territory that Indian remote sensing satellites have collected;
- creating a “India-Mauritius space portal” with satellite data, geospatial layers, and value-added services specific to Mauritius; and
- starting a discussion about space industry level collaboration between the two countries to open up new opportunities for the utilization of space.
