NE SCIENCE & TECH BUREAU
NEW DELHI/PARIS, SEPT 10
Three new India-France industry agreements span space surveillance, satellite launches and microsatellites; PM Modi invites France and the world to become ‘co-travellers’ in India’s next space frontier.
Sharing my remarks during the International Space Summit in France. https://t.co/Nw1LNXWnKp
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 10, 2026
If the sky was once the limit, India and France are now preparing to push that limit deeper into orbit. At the first International Space Summit in Paris, India’s growing space ambitions and France’s drive for a stronger, sovereign European space ecosystem converged in a series of new industry partnerships, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for countries to “explore together, innovate together and protect space together” for the benefit of humanity.
- PM Modi tells Paris Space Summit: “Cooperation over confrontation, sustainability over short-term gain, and inclusion over exclusion”
- India and France deepen a nearly six-decade space partnership as government agencies increasingly join hands with private-sector players
- New collaborations span space surveillance, satellite launches and microsatellite technologies, giving India’s NewSpace ecosystem a fresh global runway
- India’s planned 52-satellite space-surveillance constellation underlines the growing importance of sovereign space situational awareness
- Chandrayaan-3, Aditya-L1 and human spaceflight successes propel India towards an Indian space station by 2035 and a Moon mission by 2040
- PM invites France and the world to be “co-travellers” in India’s next space frontier as Paris summit puts cooperation, innovation and sustainability centre-stage
Addressing the summit virtually, Modi said the promise of space was infinite but stressed that the responsibility accompanying it was collective.
“As orbits become more crowded, technologies more powerful, and actors more numerous, our choices must be clear: cooperation over confrontation; sustainability over short-term gain; and inclusion over exclusion,” he said.
👨🚀 Une nouvelle mission commence sur Terre.
Celle de construire l’avenir de l’espace.
📅 9 & 10 septembre
📍 Grand Palais, Paris#ParisSpaceSummit pic.twitter.com/O7drxuTBDo— France Diplomatie 🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@francediplo) September 8, 2026
The two-day summit, being held in Paris on September 9-10, has brought together governments, space agencies, scientists, astronauts and private-sector players to address the future of space, with innovation, security and sustainability emerging as central themes. France says the summit has drawn representatives from around 90 countries and international organisations and nearly 1,100 space-sector companies.
India-France partnership moves from government corridors to NewSpace
The India-France relationship in space, built over more than six decades, is now widening from institutional cooperation between ISRO and CNES to commercial partnerships involving private companies and emerging NewSpace capabilities.
Three new India-France industry agreements announced around the summit cover space surveillance, satellite launches and microsatellite technologies, underscoring the growing role of private enterprise in the bilateral space relationship.
French space company Safran Space has signed contracts worth more than €5 million with India’s Dhruva Space for technologies linked to India’s planned 52-satellite space-surveillance constellation. The cooperation covers communication systems, inertial navigation units, optical payloads and ground stations.
The constellation is envisaged as an important component of India’s sovereign space-situational-awareness capabilities, with deployment planned over the coming years.
The partnership comes as India seeks to strengthen its ability to monitor activities in orbit and protect increasingly important space assets.
French launch power meets India’s orbital ambitions
In another India-France commercial link-up, French launch-services provider RIDE! has signed an agreement to launch two satellites for Indian company TakeMeToSpace, which describes itself as a designer of orbital data centres.
The agreement adds another dimension to an increasingly two-way space relationship: Indian companies are not only using international launch infrastructure but are also becoming active participants in the emerging global commercial space economy.
Separately, French smallsat company U-Space and Indian engineering and technology company AXISCADES Technologies have signed a commercial cooperation agreement to explore the Indian microsatellite market.
U-Space said the agreement would combine French space technology with India’s industrial integration capabilities and address growing domestic demand for microsatellite solutions.
From ISRO-CNES to a new commercial space ecosystem
Modi underlined the depth of the India-France space relationship, recalling that France has been a trusted partner of India since the country’s early space programme.
“France has been a trusted partner since the Indian space program began at Thumba in the 1960s. Today, our cooperation spans Earth observation and advanced technologies, uniting scientific excellence with human purpose.”
The partnership has expanded over the years into Earth observation, space science, human spaceflight, next-generation launch technologies and space situational awareness. India and France also maintain a Strategic Space Dialogue, while ISRO and CNES have been collaborating on the TRISHNA Earth-observation mission and other areas. France has also backed closer cooperation on sovereign access to space and space situational awareness.
French President Emmanuel Macron has similarly highlighted the strength of the ISRO-CNES relationship and the two countries’ joint work on Earth-observation satellites, including TRISHNA.
India’s space story enters a bigger orbit
Modi said India’s space journey reflected its philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — One Earth, One Family, One Future.
“This spirit must now travel beyond Earth,” he said, calling for a safe, secure, peaceful and sustainable space domain anchored in international law, dialogue and multilateral cooperation.
He highlighted ISRO’s global record, saying more than 430 satellites from 34 countries have travelled to space aboard Indian rockets, while Indian space technologies are supporting farmers, fishermen, weather forecasting, disaster management and navigation.
He also pointed to India’s landmark achievements—from Chandrayaan-3’s landing near the lunar south pole to the Aditya-L1 solar mission and an Indian astronaut’s visit to the International Space Station.
Looking ahead, India aims to establish an Indian space station by 2035 and send an Indian to the Moon by 2040, Modi said.
The private sector becomes India’s new launchpad
The Prime Minister stressed that India’s space transformation is no longer an ISRO-only story.
“Alongside ISRO, India’s private space sector is also surging in a big way. The energy of enterprise is joining the excellence of ISRO.”
That shift is increasingly visible in the India-France partnerships announced around the Paris summit, as startups and private technology companies become integral to satellite manufacturing, space surveillance, launch services and microsatellite development.
The Paris summit itself reflects how rapidly the space economy is changing. France has positioned the event as a platform for international cooperation at a time when space is increasingly shaped by technological breakthroughs, commercialisation, security concerns and a growing number of public and private actors.
For India and France, the message from Paris is therefore larger than a handful of commercial contracts: the next phase of the space relationship is being built not only by space agencies, but by companies, startups, engineers and entrepreneurs on both sides.
And Modi had a clear invitation for them all:
“We invite France and the world to be co-travellers in India’s next space frontier.”
His closing message captured the ambition of the moment:
“Let the Space Summit in Paris send a clear message: we will explore together, innovate together and protect space together, for all humanity, and for generations to come.”
