Meeting a few days after their countries’ respective spacecraft entered Mars orbit, President Barack Obama and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi on 30 September pledged cooperation in space, clean energy, climate change mitigation, and other scientific programs. Coinciding with the summit, the heads of the two nations’ space agencies signed separate agreements to delineate their respective roles in building and launching an Earth-orbiting satellite and to plan for a future joint Mars mission.
Obama and Modi also agreed to take further steps to implement the US–India civil nuclear cooperation agreement. Under that pact, which took effect in 2008, India agreed to open its civilian nuclear reactors—but not its nuclear weapons facilities—to international inspection. In exchange, the US agreed to export reactors, nuclear fuel, and other nuclear technologies to India. The 47 other countries that export nuclear-related products, known collectively as the Nuclear Suppliers Group, later followed the US lead.
Nonproliferation...
