Latvia takes a significant step toward closer collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation
On March 19, as part of the official visit of Latvia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Baiba Braže to India, a high-level meeting took place with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) - one of the world’s leading and fastest-growing space agencies.
The ISRO delegation expressed interest in continuing discussions with Latvia at a technical level in the following areas:
Satellite data processing for forest management;
Radioisotope energy source technologies (Deep Space Energy);
Quantum communication and other applications of Eventech products.
Latvia’s national priorities in the space sector are:
Development of satellite data-based services for forest and land management;
Excellence in niche technologies and bilateral cooperation in applying them to space missions and the creation of commercial products.
LAIK will initiate intensive work in the coming weeks to guide and coordinate technical cooperation discussions between Latvian companies and ISRO, in close collaboration with the Latvian Embassy in India.
Latvia’s space industry was represented by:
LAIK (Latvian Space Industry Association), through its authorized representative Mihails Ščepanskis, CEO of Deep Space Energy, and
Pavels Razmajevs from the company Eventech.
The delegation was led by Minister Baiba Braže, with participation from:
Latvia’s Ambassador to India, Juris Bone, and his team;
Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department for Promotion of External Economic Relations, Gints Zadraks;
Deputy Director of the Export and Innovation Department of LIAA, Inese Šīrava.
This visit marks the beginning of a new level of cooperation between Latvia and ISRO, and affirms the potential of Latvia’s capable, innovation-based industry to become a trusted partner on a global scale.
We are grateful to Minister Baiba Braže and her office for making it possible for us to be welcomed by senior ISRO officials, as well as to LIAA and Latvian Ministry of Economics for their preparatory work on this visit.
In India, we met with:
Mr. M. Ganesh Pillai, ISRO Scientific Secretary,
Dr. J.V. Thomas, Director of Earth Observation & Disaster Management Support Program,
Mr. A. Arunachalam, Executive and Technical Director of NewSpace India Limited (commercial arm of ISRO),
Dr. Veeramuthuvel, Director of Space Infrastructure Program and Chandrayaan-3 program,
Mr. B. Behera, Associate Scientific Secretary at ISRO HQ,
Ms. Anitha Nandhini, Director at India’s Department of Space,
Mr. Sivakumar R, Associate Director, Office for International and Interagency Cooperation,
Mr. Raghu Meetei, Associate Director, Directorate for Technology Development and Innovation,
Mr. Ganesh Mohan, Associate Director, Indian National Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe),
Mr. Afjal Das, Program Manager, SATNAV-PO.
ISRO’s arsenal includes a full spectrum of launch vehicles—from economically and commercially efficient LEO launchers to heavy launchers, such as the one that recently carried out the extremely successful Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon’s polar region. ISRO is also rapidly developing its own independent Earth Observation and navigation satellite network. ISRO’s 2024 budget was approximately $2 billion.
The visit to India was carried out with the support of the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA), under the agreement for export support services No. 9.3-1-L-2025/32.