NASA Invites ISRO to Join Moon Base Programme as India-US Lunar Cooperation Deepens

In a significant expansion of India–United States cooperation in space exploration, NASA has invited the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to participate in its newly established Moon Base programme, opening another avenue for the two space agencies to work together on future lunar science, infrastructure and human spaceflight technologies.

The invitation was extended during the ninth meeting of the India–US Civil Space Joint Working Group (CSJWG), hosted by India at ISRO Headquarters in Bengaluru on August 5–6, 2026. According to a U.S. Embassy press release quoted by The Economic Times and The Times of India, NASA invited ISRO to join the Moon Base programme while the two sides also agreed to advance discussions on open scientific-data sharing under the Artemis Accords.

The development is especially significant because it brings together two increasingly capable lunar programmes at a time when sustained activity around the Moon is moving from long-term planning towards actual infrastructure development.

India and US Expand Space Cooperation at Bengaluru Meeting

The Bengaluru discussions were conducted under the broader India–US Transforming the Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technology, or TRUST, Initiative and covered civil and commercial space cooperation, space science and future human-spaceflight technologies. ISRO Chairman and Secretary, Department of Space, Dr V. Narayanan, and U.S. Ambassador to India Sergio Gor addressed the opening session.

The Indian delegation was co-chaired by M. Sankaran, Director of ISRO’s U R Rao Satellite Centre, while the U.S. side was represented at the co-chair level by Wesley Brooks, Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, and Kathleen Karika, NASA Associate Administrator for International and Interagency Relations.

The discussions also reviewed opportunities emerging from the successful NASA–ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, or NISAR, mission. NISAR was launched from Sriharikota aboard India’s GSLV-F16 on July 30, 2025, and ISRO describes it as the first joint satellite mission developed by the two agencies. The spacecraft combines NASA’s L-band synthetic aperture radar with ISRO’s S-band radar on an Indian satellite bus and was placed into orbit by an Indian launch vehicle.

What Is NASA’s Moon Base Programme?

NASA formally unveiled its Moon Base initiative on March 24, 2026, with a phased programme intended to establish a sustained presence near the lunar South Pole. NASA’s architecture begins with robotic missions and technology demonstrations before progressing towards surface infrastructure, recurring astronaut operations and eventually systems supporting a long-duration human presence on the Moon.

The programme encompasses considerably more than a single habitat. NASA has identified areas including surface mobility, power, communications, navigation, robotic systems, cargo transportation, habitation, logistics, scientific payloads and lunar infrastructure as elements of the emerging architecture.

International cooperation is deliberately built into this architecture. NASA states that the Moon Base programme will provide multiple entry points for international collaborators from early demonstrations through longer-term lunar surface operations.

ISRO’s invitation therefore comes at an early stage when the systems and partnerships required for sustained lunar activity are taking shape.

ISRO Brings Proven Lunar Capability to the Partnership

India enters these discussions with a mature and steadily expanding lunar exploration programme of its own.

Chandrayaan-3 achieved a historic soft landing in the southern high-latitude region of the Moon on August 23, 2023, followed by surface operations by the Pragyan rover. ISRO subsequently highlighted the mission’s successful landing, robotic exploration, in-situ scientific measurements, Vikram lander’s hop experiment and the return of the Chandrayaan-3 propulsion module from lunar orbit towards an Earth-bound orbit as demonstrations of capabilities relevant to increasingly complex lunar missions.

India is already moving into the next technological stage through Chandrayaan-4, an approved lunar sample-return mission. The programme is designed to demonstrate landing, lunar surface sample collection, ascent from the Moon, orbital docking, sample transfer and safe return of lunar material to Earth. The Union Cabinet approved the mission with the explicit objective of developing technologies required for India’s longer-term lunar exploration programme.

ISRO is simultaneously developing Chandrayaan-5/LUPEX with Japan’s JAXA, a much more capable lunar polar exploration mission focused on volatile materials, including water, near permanently shadowed regions around the lunar South Pole. The planned mission will use an ISRO-developed lunar lander carrying a Japanese rover.

These missions form part of India’s broader Space Vision 2047, which includes the Bharatiya Antariksh Station and an Indian crewed lunar landing targeted for 2040. The government has already approved major programmes supporting this roadmap, including Chandrayaan-4, Chandrayaan-5/LUPEX, Gaganyaan follow-on missions, the Bharatiya Antariksh Station programme and the Next Generation Launch Vehicle.

Human Spaceflight Cooperation Has Already Taken a Major Step

The NASA invitation also follows an important development in Indian human spaceflight cooperation.

In 2025, ISRO Gaganyatri Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla flew to the International Space Station as pilot of Axiom Mission 4. His mission lasted 18 days and included seven Indian microgravity experiments, providing ISRO with operational experience relevant to the country’s Gaganyaan programme.

ISRO has described the experience gained through Axiom-4 as significant for India’s human-spaceflight preparations, including astronaut training, mission protocols, microgravity research and operational experience associated with crewed orbital missions.

The Moon Base discussions therefore follow a progression in bilateral cooperation from Earth observation through NISAR, to astronaut experience through Axiom-4, and now towards possible collaboration in lunar surface systems and human exploration.

A Natural Meeting Point Between Two Lunar Programmes

The potential strategic importance of the NASA invitation lies in the considerable technological overlap between India’s own lunar roadmap and the capabilities required for sustained operations around the lunar South Pole.

India is developing expertise in precision lunar landing, surface mobility, sample acquisition, ascent from the lunar surface, autonomous rendezvous and docking, lunar resource studies and human-spaceflight systems. NASA’s Moon Base architecture requires many of the same broad classes of technology, alongside power, communications, navigation, logistics and habitation infrastructure.

ISRO’s SPADEX programme also has direct relevance to India’s lunar ambitions. The Department of Space stated in March 2026 that further docking experiments were being studied to replicate operations required for the Chandrayaan-4 Lunar Sample Return mission and future Bharatiya Antariksh Station operations.

This gives India several areas in which future cooperation could develop while complementing its indigenous lunar programme.

Artemis Accords Provide the Broader Framework

India joined the Artemis Accords in 2023, providing an established framework for cooperation with the United States and other participating countries in peaceful lunar and deep-space exploration. The latest meeting agreed to further discussions on open scientific-data sharing under the Accords, while both countries also reaffirmed support for long-term sustainability guidelines developed through the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

The Moon Base invitation can therefore be viewed as another layer within an increasingly broad India–US space relationship rather than as an isolated initiative.

India’s Lunar Programme Enters a Wider Era of International Cooperation

For India, the development comes during one of the most ambitious periods in the history of its space programme. Chandrayaan-3 demonstrated Indian landing and surface-exploration capability at the lunar southern high latitudes. Chandrayaan-4 is being developed to master lunar sample return. Chandrayaan-5/LUPEX will pursue detailed exploration of volatile resources near the lunar South Pole, while India’s human-spaceflight roadmap ultimately envisages Indian astronauts reaching the Moon.

Against this backdrop, NASA’s invitation reflects ISRO’s growing standing as a major lunar and human-spaceflight partner with substantial indigenous capabilities of its own.

The India–US relationship in space has already produced one of the world’s most sophisticated Earth-observation spacecraft in NISAR and has included Indian participation in an International Space Station mission. The emerging Moon Base dialogue now creates the possibility of cooperation at an even more ambitious frontier — the establishment of a sustained human and scientific presence around the lunar South Pole.

For India, such cooperation can progress alongside its own national objectives, bringing together Chandrayaan, Gaganyaan, the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, future Indian lunar missions and selected international partnerships within a much larger era of Indian deep-space exploration.

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Sources: U.S. Embassy statement as reported by The Economic Times and The Times of India; NASA Moon Base programme documents; NASA; ISRO; Press Information Bureau, Government of India.

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