Arrested Nasa spy worked on Chandrayaan project

Prashanth G N & Srinivas Laxman

BANGALORE/MUMBAI: A senior American space scientist arrested by the FBI in the US for allegedly spying for Israel was one of the main investigators of a Nasa scientific instrument Mini-Sar that flew aboard India's lunar craft Chandrayaan-1. The scientist had visited Bangalore twice and met up with Isro scientists. ( Watch Video )

The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Monday filed a criminal complaint against Nasa scientist Steward David Nozette, 52, for attempted espionage. He is believed to be working for Israeli intelligence.

Isro has said Nozette visited Bangalore and interacted with scientists but had no access to critical Isro establishments during the visits and there was no concern about loss of data.

Isro chief spokesperson S Satish told TOI: "Isro has strict security protocols for foreign scientists. Accordingly, Nozette had not been allowed access to critical establishments. We ensured complete compliance to the protocol. Like any other foreign national, Nozette had no access to critical facilities."

Nozette, a PhD in planetary sciences, was contacted by an FBI undercover employee last month posing as a Mossad officer and invited for lunch at a hotel in Connecticut Avenue in Washington DC to part with details about sensitive US satellite data for a sum. Nozette quoted a price which went into several thousand dollars.

On Monday, during a sting operation which was video-taped by the undercover FBI officer, Nozette was trapped and arrested.

Nozette's bio on Nasa's Mini-RF (Miniature Radio Frequency) project page describes him as the instrument's principal investigator on the American Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and co-investigator on Mini-Sar on Chandrayaan-1.

Satish confirmed Nozette had visited Isro Bangalore at least twice. "He did have some interactions. Isro officials were constantly accompanying him and ensured security compliance."

Said a scientist who didn't want to be identified: "We have interacted with him and we never got an impression of him being a spy. We were not aware of his complete background because the system is such at the moment that we only rely on the passport details of the visiting foreign scientists. What has happened is very very bad and embarrassing and most of us are shocked."

It may be recalled that when the agreement relating to two Nasa payloads, the Moon Minerology Mapper and the Mini-Sar, were in the process of being firmed between Washington and New Delhi for being flown on Chandrayaan-1, the US administration raised numerous questions and doubts. This considerably delayed the shipment of the two payloads to Bangalore for testing and integration with the main spacecraft.

The Mini-RF project flew two radar instruments -- the first one on Isro's Chandrayaan-1 called Mini-Sar (synthetic aperture radar), which mapped lunar poles, and the second one on Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Nasa's Moon Mineralogy Mapper proved the presence of water molecules on Moon.