During the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, agreements enhancing increased cooperation in space arena were agreed upon. These included the Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA), which allows ISRO to launch satellites with American components. The agreement is seen as the first step towards facilitating the launch of satellites owned by the US government or academic institutions and satellites owned by space agencies owned by third countries1.

The agreement requires India to accept end-use and monitoring of spacecraft with American components. TSA however does not allow ISRO to launch US-built commercial satellites or commercial satellites built by third countries with US components. The launch of the latter set of satellites requires a separate agreement called the Commercial Space Launch Agreement (CSLA).

• 1. “Space agreement to help launch ‘India-U.S. 3.0’,” The Hindu, July 20, 2009, at http://www.hindu.com/2009/07/20/stories/2009072057530100.htm