Washington: Notwithstanding the current unease in bilateral ties, a team of top ISRO scientists are here to participate in the first ever ministerial meet on international space exploration hosted by the U.S.
The Indian delegation led by A S Kiran Kumar, Associate Director of the Space Applications Centre (SAC), is here for the two-day 2014 Space Exploration Conference and Heads of Space Agency Summit, which among others is attended by heads of 30 top space agencies including those from China, Germany, the U.S. and Russia.
However, the Indian delegation is neither represented at the ministerial level nor is led by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) head Dr K Radhakrishnan.
There has been no official explanation given for a relatively low level representation at such an international conference, fuelling speculation that it is probably influenced by the recent strain in India-U.S. ties following the arrest of senior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York last month on alleged visa fraud charges.
The Indian participation in this important meeting today and tomorrow was described by the State Department as business as usual.
"We're welcoming an Indian delegation to the State Department tomorrow as part of the first ever international space exploration forum we announced earlier today," State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters.
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