India became the fourth country to successfully perform an unmanned docking in space on Thursday, a key feat for future missions as New Delhi cements its place as a global space power.
The United States, Russia and China are the only other countries that have developed and tested docking capabilities.
“Spacecraft docking completed successfully! “A historic moment,” said the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on X.
The Indian space agency’s mission, called Space Docking Experiment (SpaDex), involved deploying two small spacecraft, weighing about 220 kilograms each, into low Earth orbit.
The two spacecraft, called Target and Chaser, took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh on December 30 aboard an Indian-made PSLV rocket.
This Thursday, they held a meeting before docking together.
“India’s SpaDex mission marks the beginning of a new era in space exploration, showcasing India’s technological prowess and ambition,” Space Minister Jitendra Singh said on X at the time of the launch.
Docking technology is essential for future space endeavors, such as servicing satellites and when multiple rocket launches are needed to achieve mission objectives.
Domestically developed docking technology will be crucial for India to succeed in its ambition to land an Indian citizen on the Moon, build a national space station and bring back lunar samples, according to ISRO.
This technology will allow India to transfer materials from one satellite or spacecraft to another, such as payloads, lunar samples or, eventually, humans in space, Singh told reporters at a press conference on December 31.
As part of the mission, the docked spacecraft will also demonstrate the transfer of electrical energy between them once connected. This is essential for operating robotics in space, spacecraft control, and payload operations during future missions.
Before docking, India on Sunday conducted a “test attempt” where the two satellites were progressively brought closer in orbit until they were 3 meters apart, before returning to a “safe distance”.
The successful docking came after the experiment was postponed twice, on January 7 and 9, due to technical problems, and the spacecraft drifted longer than expected during a maneuver to bring them closer together.
A global space race
India’s space ambitions have accelerated under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, elected to a third term in June last year and who has sought to assert India’s place on the global stage.
In 2023, India will join an elite space club, becoming the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the Moon. The historic Chandrayaan-3 mission, the first to make a soft landing near the Moon’s unexplored South Pole, collected samples that are helping scientists understand how the Earth was formed and evolved over time.
As part of its ambitious plans, India aims to launch its first manned mission into space in the coming years and land an astronaut on the Moon — a feat achieved only by the US — by 2040.
The country also aims to build its own space station by 2035, which will be called the “Bharatiya Antariksha Station”, and launch its first orbital mission to Venus in 2028. It also plans to return samples from the moon as part of its ongoing mission. Chandarayaan lunar program in 2027.
India has also made a major effort to commercialize its space sector in recent years, enabling private enterprise and easing approvals for foreign investment, which has focused on building and launching small satellites into low-Earth orbit more cheaply.
For Sunday’s docking experiment, the rocket and spacecraft were integrated and tested at the private company Ananth Technologies, a first for the country.
