{"id":168079,"date":"2024-09-23T14:54:18","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T09:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/?p=168079"},"modified":"2024-09-23T14:54:20","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T09:24:20","slug":"mea-and-nsil-sign-mou-for-launch-of-nepalese-munal-satellite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/mea-and-nsil-sign-mou-for-launch-of-nepalese-munal-satellite\/","title":{"rendered":"MEA and NSIL Sign MoU for Launch of Nepalese Munal Satellite"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of ISRO, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate the launch of Nepal\u2019s Munal satellite. The MoU was formalized on Saturday, with Anurag Srivastava, Joint Secretary (North) from MEA, and Arunachalam A, Director from NSIL, representing their respective organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Crux of the Agreement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Munal satellite, an indigenous project developed by the&nbsp;<strong>Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST),<\/strong>&nbsp;aims to create a vegetation density database of Earth\u2019s surface. This initiative marks a significant milestone in space collaboration between Nepal and India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Details of the Satellite and Its Launch<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Munal satellite, which has been designed and fabricated with the help of the space startup&nbsp;<strong>Antarikchya Pratishan Nepal (APN)<\/strong>, is expected to be launched aboard NSIL\u2019s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in the coming months. This follows a launch service agreement signed during External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar\u2019s visit to Nepal in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Participants and Impact<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The MoU signing ceremony included key figures such as<strong>&nbsp;NAST Secretary Rabindra Prasad Dhakal, Surendra Thapa,<\/strong>&nbsp;charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires of the Nepal embassy, and Abhas Maskey, founder of APN. This collaboration underscores the strengthening of Nepal-India relations, extending to space research. According to Thapa, this partnership symbolizes the deepening ties between the two countries, while Dhakal highlights the value the satellite will bring to space research in Nepal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Future Prospects<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Munal satellite features AI-supported imagery functions and is expected to bolster Nepal\u2019s space research capabilities. The engagement signifies potential future collaborations between Nepal and Indian space agencies, marking a significant step in the development of small satellite technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of ISRO, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate the launch of Nepal\u2019s Munal satellite. The MoU was formalized on Saturday, with Anurag Srivastava, Joint Secretary (North) from MEA, and Arunachalam A, Director from NSIL, representing their respective organizations. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":168087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5241],"tags":[65],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-168079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs-august-2024","tag-current-affairs-on-memorandum-of-understanding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168079"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":168088,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168079\/revisions\/168088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168079"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/offerexpiration?post=168079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}