Under India's BRICS Chairship, the BRICS Space Agencies Heads have signed an agreement on Wednesday for cooperation in remote sensing satellite data sharing. This comes after a videoconference meeting of the heads of BRICS space agencies was held today.

"Under India's BRICS Chairship, the BRICS Space Agencies Heads have signed an agreement for cooperation in remote sensing satellite data sharing on August 18 in the presence of Sanjay Bhattacharyya, Secretary (CPV&OIA) and India's BRICS Sherpa, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India and other officials from respective external/foreign affairs Ministries," ISRO said in a statement. This agreement enables building a virtual constellation of specified remote sensing satellites of BRICS space agencies and their respective ground stations will receive the data, the statement said.

This will contribute in strengthening multilateral cooperation among BRICS space agencies in meeting the challenges faced by mankind, such as global climate change, major disasters and environmental protection. Dr K. Sivan, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)/ Secretary, Department of Space; Zhang Kejian, Administrator, China National Space Administration (CNSA); Dr Val Munsami, Chief Executive Officer, South African National Space Agency (SANSA); Carlos Augusto Teixeira De Moura, President, Brazilian Space Agency (AEB); and Dr Dmitry Rogozin, Director General, State Space Corporation "Roscosmos" have signed this Agreement.