Bangalore June 25, 2004

The United States and India intend to explore working together on the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), the next generation U S environmental satellite system engaged in remote sensing from a polar orbit. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the U S National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced this today, the concluding day of the India-United States Conference on Space Science, Applications and Commerce, after agreeing on a timetable to take this process forward in preparation for the expected launch of NPOESS in 2009.

NPOESS will provide rapid distribution of global and regional environmental imagery, meteorological, climatic, terrestrial, oceanic and solar-geophysical data for use by the international community. Data from this system will aid in the timely prediction of cyclones, support disaster management efforts; and benefit the development and management of agriculture, fisheries, maritime industries and other economic sectors.

The ISRO-NOAA effort will support timely receipt of high quality data derived from the NPOESS system. As part of this programme it is envisaged to set up fifteen worldwide reception stations located on all seven continents. One of these stations could be in India. NOAA industry partners Northrop Grumman Space Technology and Raytheon Company are under contract to implement the worldwide NPOESS system.

ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said, "We are excited about the potential for this collaboration and we recognize the vast scientific value of this programme".