Russia, India to join in moon mission

RUSSIA, The leaders of veteran allies Russia and India agreed Monday to launch a joint unmanned mission to the moon during Kremlin talks on boosting military and trade ties.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the plan after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during which the two discussed projects for a more than twofold increase in trade by the end of the decade.

"The symbol of our cooperation is the joint agreement to send an unpiloted space ship to the moon for scientific investigation," Singh said in comments broadcast on Russian state television after the meeting.

Russia's space agency Roskosmos said it had signed an agreement with the Indian space agency for joint lunar exploration through 2017, including the construction of a module that will orbit the moon "for peaceful purposes." "Russia and India will jointly build a space ship. Under the project we plan to send an entire laboratory to the moon," Roskosmos head Anatoly Perminov said in a statement.

During the talks the Russian and Indian leaders also "paid particular attention to cooperation in nuclear energy and in military-technical cooperation," Putin said.

Russia accounts for 70 percent of Indian military hardware while India currently accounts for 30 percent of Russian arms sales, Interfax reported, citing Russian officials.

Agreement was finalised on a joint project to develop a new military transport plane, the Il-214, as well as cooperation on a fifth-generation fighter jet. The deals "open new prospects for our scientific, technical and production cooperation in sensitive areas," Putin said. Singh thanked the Russian president for assisting in efforts to lift international restrictions on nuclear cooperation with India.

"We look forward to expanding our cooperation with Russia in the civil use of nuclear energy in the future," he said.

Moscow, Tuesday, AFP