India and France advanced their space partnership on Monday, September 28, 2026, as Union Minister Jitendra Singh met a French delegation in New Delhi. The delegation was led by France’s Minister for Higher Education, Research and Space, Prof. Philippe Baptiste, and included French Ambassador to India Thierry Mathou.

The third joint ISRO-CNES satellite, TRISHNA, is “progressing well”, the meeting noted. The Thermal Infrared Imaging Satellite for High-resolution Natural resource Assessment is designed to monitor water use and land surface temperature. An event in Bengaluru on October 11 will feature ISRO officials speaking on the mission.

France’s CNES has supported India’s Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme by supplying consumables and training flight surgeons, the crew-health doctors. Indian and French teams have also begun discussions on microgravity research and parabolic flights. The agenda covered the India-France Year of Innovation 2026, the bilateral research body CEFIPRA and the blue economy.

The partnership dates to the 1960s, beginning with joint sounding rocket experiments. Two jointly built satellites — Megha-Tropiques and SARAL — have been launched so far. Cooperation is now expanding beyond government agencies to startups and industry, with more than 400 Indian space startups active in rockets, satellites and space applications.