Will NASA-ISRO satellite pass the Trump test?

Space scientists in India and America are on tenterhooks as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald J Trump meet for the first bilateral in Washington tomorrow. At stake is the world’s most expensive earth-imaging satellite till date being jointly made by the NASA and the ISRO.

Climate change seems to be a red rag for the current American administration. If there is one thing that divides India and America big-time today, it is climate change. In all likelihood climate change would be a point that would figure in the Trump-Modi discussions.

Trump calls climate change a hoax created by China by adhering to his views that “the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive”.
On the other hand, Modi has penned a pictorial book – “Convenient Action: Continuity for Change” – that compiles his actions and beliefs on climate change. Recently, the US walked out of the Paris Climate Change Treaty while India continues to honour its commitments. Trump said, “India makes its participation contingent on receiving billions and billions and billions of dollars in foreign aid from developed countries”, while Modi said failing to act on climate …read more