NASA Invites ISRO to Join Moon Base Programme

NASA has invited ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) to join its “Moon Base programme” under Artemis Mission towards partnership in deep-space endeavour. This initiative to expand cooperation follows successful launch of the joint NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission in 2025 and builds on partnership under the Artemis Accords that India had signed earlier on 21 June 2023. The two sides also agreed to advance discussions for cooperation on open scientific data sharing under the Accords.

Moon Base programme is one of six key component of Artemis Moon Mission which aims to create long-term human presence on and around the Moon and learn lessons in preparation for human missions and habitations on Mars. A base camp on the lunar surface (comprising of a modern cabin, a rover, and a mobile home) will give astronauts a place to live and work on the Moon, which is another celestial body. 

Artemis Base Camp is planned in the lunar South Pole region. This is because permanently shadowed craters in this area are known to have trapped water ice that can be used for drinking water and rocket fuel. Also, some elevated peaks and ridges in the region receive near-constant sunlight and can serve as a reliable source of solar power.

Interestingly, ISRO’s lunar lander Vikram of Chandrayaan-3 mission had safely soft landed on 23 August 2023 at high latitude lunar surface near the Moon’s South Pole. This was the first lunar mission in human history to touch down in the southern polar region at approximately 69.36°S latitude and 32.34°E longitude, where presence of water/ice is confirmed. The Landing Site was later officially named the “Shiv Shakti Point”. 

ARTEMIS MISSION & MOON BASE PROGRAMME 

Nearly half a century after the Apollo Moon Missions, NASA has embarked on the ambitious Artemis Moon Mission. It is NASA’s collaborative programme with European Space Agency (ESA) and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and has three objectives –scientific discovery, economic benefits, and inspiration for a new generation. The six components of the mission are 

1. Orion spacecraft: The exploration vehicle that will carry crew to space, provide emergency abort, sustain the crew during the travel and provide safe re-entry to the Earth.  
2. Space Launch System (SLS) Rocket: The heavy-lift rocket that will launch Orion spacecraft. 
3. Exploration Ground Systems (EGS): will support launch and recovery of returning astronauts. 
4. The Gateway: the spaceship in lunar orbit that will serve as multi-purpose outpost orbiting the Moon where astronauts will transfer between Orion and the lander. This will provide essential support for long-term human return to the lunar surface  
5. Human Landing System: Lander will take astronauts from the Gateway in the lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon and back to the Gateway in the orbit. 
6. Artemis Base Camp: will serve as the home and the workplace for a crew of four astronauts on the surface of the Moon for about 30-60 days. This will enable the crew to stay on the Moon for up to two months at a time. 

Artemis I, an un-crewed flight test, the first in a series of Artemis’s increasingly complex missions to the Moon, was launched on 16 November 2022 and was a success. This paved the way for successful crewed flight Artemis II which was launched on 1 April 2026. Artemis III is planned in late 2027. Artemis IV scheduled in early 2028 will have first lunar landing of the Artemis programme. 

Human habitation system of the Moon Base programme is the key piece of the mission for living longer in deep space. This is an imperative for future mission to Mars. The Transit Habitat is envisioned for long-duration missions. Sustained human habitation on the surface of the Moon is a very ambitious goal because of unique challenges posed by the lunar environment and the remoteness from the Earth. 

THE ARTEMIS ACCORDS

Artemis moon programme (which comprises Moon Base programme) functions in alignment with the Artemis Accords. 

Established in 2020, the Artemis Accords aims at peaceful exploration of deep space. It provides the guiding principles and international governance framework for partner nations involved in lunar and civil space exploration. 

India is a signatory of the Artemis Accords. It signed the Accords on 21 June 2023.  However, being signatory of the Artemis Accords does not make one participant automatically. NASA’s current invitation to ISRO to join its “Moon Base programme” aims to make India an active participant, the way European Space Agency (ESA) and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) already are. 

Seventy countries have signed the Artemis Accords so far, Mauritius became 70^th signatory on 17 July 2026. Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, UAE, UK, USA, South Korea, Israel, France, India, Germany, Spain, etc are some of the important nations to sign the Accords. However, many countries have not joined Artemis Accords. 

International Space Station (ISS) is a good example of international cooperation in the area of space technology. The ISS collaboration was signed in 1998 by the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan, and eleven European nations. Russia is signatory and participant of ISS but China was excluded which went on to build its own Tiangong space station. 

China has successfully executed a series of lunar and deep space exploration programs since the launch of Chang’E-1 mission in 2007 (for a context, ISRO’s Chandrayaan-1 was launched in 2008). Since then, China has demonstrated a very high level of space technology capabilities. Russia as a successor of erstwhile Soviet Union, is an established space power. 

When it came to lunar programme, China and Russia chose to form a separate international collaboration for lunar exploration. Russia, China and some other nations are not signatory of the Artemis Accords.

INTERNATIONAL LUNAR RESEARCH STATION (ILRS)

On 9 March 2021, China National Space Administration (CNSA) and Russia’s ROSCOSMOS officially signed the agreement and the lunar collaboration International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) was born. The joint initiative of China and Russia aims to build a permanent robotic and human base on the Moon. 

Apart from two founding nations Russia and China, eleven countries i.e., Venezuela, South Africa, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Belarus, Egypt, Thailand, Nicaragua, Serbia, Kazakhstan and Senegal have signed ILRS as of 2026. Turkey has applied and is awaiting signatory status. In addition, China’s Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL) has signed agreements for collaboration with over 50 international organizations, universities, and research institutes. 

Interestingly, Thailand, Serbia and Senegal are signatories of both Artemis Accords and International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). This is partly due to differences in the foundational ideas of the two collaborations – Artemis Accords provides a voluntary set of norms to nations for peaceful civilian space exploration. Project partnership is a separate arrangement, for example, NASA has invited ISRO to join Moon Base programme. On the other hand, China and Russia led International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) membership is direct project partnership to build human habitation infrastructure on the lunar surface. 

***

References 

1. ISRO. Press release – India – U.S. Civil Space Joint Working Group meeting at ISRO Headquarters, Bengaluru. 12 August 2026. Available at https://www.isro.gov.in/India_US_Civil_Space_Joint_meeting_at_ISRO.html
2. U.S. Embassy & Consulates in India. Press release – India-U.S. Civil Space Joint Working Group Advances Civil and Commercial Space Cooperation. 11 August 2026. Available at https://in.usembassy.gov/india-u-s-civil-space-joint-working-group-advances-civil-and-commercial-space-cooperation/
3. NASA. The Artemis Accords. Available at  https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-accords/
4. NASA. Moon Base. Available at https://www.nasa.gov/moonbase/
5. NASA. About – Moon Base. Available at https://www.nasa.gov/reference/moonbase-about/
6. NASA. International Space Station (ISS). Available at https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/
7. CNSA. International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) Guide for Partnership. 16 June 2021. Available at https://www.cnsa.gov.cn/english/n6465652/n6465653/c6812150/content.html
8. Wu X., 2023. The International Lunar Research Station: China’s New Era of Space Cooperation and Its New Role in the Space Legal Order. Space Policy Volume 65, August 2023, 101537. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spacepol.2022.101537
9. Xu L., et al. A Brief Introduction to the International Lunar Research Station Program and the Interstellar Express Mission[J]. Chinese Journal of Space Science, 2022, 42(4): 511-513. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11728/cjss2022.04.yg28

***

Related articles: 

1. NISAR: The New Radar in Space for Precision Mapping of Earth   (7 August 2025) 
2. Gateway Lunar Space Station of ‘Artemis Mission’: UAE to provide an Airlock   (8 January 2024)
3. Lunar Race 2.0: What drive renewed interests in moon missions?  (27 August 2023)
4. Lunar Race: India’s Chandrayaan 3 achieves Soft-landing capability  (23 August 2023) 
5. Mass Extinctions in the history of Life: Significance of NASA’s Artemis Moon and Planetary Defence DART Missions  (23 August 2022) 
6. Artemis Moon Mission: Towards Deep Space Human Habitation  (11 August 2022) 

***