Are there any laws regulating access to the International Space Station for an Indian company, for research such as microgravity tests?
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3$\begingroup$ Can you be more specific please, as to what the Indian company wants? Do they want the astronauts to conduct experiments for them, or do they want access to data from previous experiments, or something else entirely? $\endgroup$– Rikki-Tikki-TaviMay 8, 2015 at 10:32
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$\begingroup$ I doubt that there are laws which govern this, but rather regulations and international agreements. Both can be flexible... for the right price. There already were private space tourists on the ISS, so yes, access to the ISS is for sale. $\endgroup$– PhilippMay 8, 2015 at 13:32
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$\begingroup$ ISRO has been involved with the process to join the ISS project nations since 2009, and has been formally invited to do so in 2011. Unless there's a veto from any of the already participating nations (like e.g. US objection to China's involvement), there isn't any law strictly prohibiting India to join. There are however many regulations that apply to all, and India isn't exempt from. Those depend on how India would like to partner with existing members and contribute to the project. That said, I think you need to edit your question to be a bit more specific and explain what you mean. $\endgroup$– TildalWaveMay 8, 2015 at 14:15
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Astronaut time, payload transfer capacity, instrument time and other resources on the ISS are divided among the partaking nations depending on their financial commitment to the project. Also, some of the partaking nations have modules which they can use exclusively.
However, all the partaking nations are allowed to sub-sell their time and resources.
When the ISRO or a private Indian company would like to place an experiment on the ISS, they could contract any of the ISS partners to perform the experiment for them using the resources allotted to the partner. The price is a matter of negotiation, but it will certainly not be cheap.
