India launches its first space docking mission | Space News

If successful, India will become the fourth country to achieve this goal.

India has launched its first space landing mission on an Indian-made rocket, in a bid to become the fourth country to achieve the advanced technological feat.

The mission, called the Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX), lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Andhra Pradesh state at 16:30 GMT on Monday aboard the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) PSLV rocket.

After about 15 minutes, the mission director called the launch a success after the PSLV-C60 rocket reached an altitude of about 470 km (292 miles).

The mission is considered key to future space endeavorsincluding satellite servicing and operation of the country’s planned space station. Space docking technology is critical when multiple rocket launches are required to achieve common mission objectives.

India’s mission involves placing two small spacecraft, each weighing about 220 kg (485 pounds), into a circular orbit of 470 km. It will also demonstrate electrical power transfer between docked spacecraft, a capability vital to applications such as space robotics, composite spacecraft control and post-detachment payload operations.

Each satellite carries an advanced payload, including an imaging system and a radiation monitor designed to measure electron and proton radiation levels in space, providing key data for future human spaceflight missions.

ISRO Chairman S Somanath said the actual testing of the docking technology could happen in about a week and indicated a nominal date of around January 7. “The rocket put the satellites into the right orbit,” he said.

A successful demonstration would put India alongside the United States, Russia and China as the only countries to have developed and tested this capability.

In a first for India, the rocket and satellites were integrated and tested by a private company called Ananth Technologies, rather than a government body.

“The display of this technology not only means an opportunity to join the rare group of countries that possess it, but opens the market for ISRO to be a launch partner for various global missions that need docking or assembly facilities in space,” he said. astrophysicist Somak Raychaudhary of Ashoka University.

The fourth stage of the PSLV, which is usually turned into space junk, has been converted into an active unmanned space laboratory. The last stage of the rocket has been converted into an orbital laboratory and will be used for various experiments.

“The PSLV Orbital Experiment Module (POEM) is a practical solution deployed by ISRO that allows Indian start-ups, academic institutions and research organizations to test their space technologies without having to launch entire satellites. By making this platform accessible, we are lowering entry barriers and enabling more entities to contribute to the space sector,” said Pawan Goenka, Chairman of India’s Space Regulatory Authority.

The mission is “vital to India’s future space ambitions,” Jitendra Singh, minister of state for science and technology, said in a statement ahead of the launch. Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced plans to send a man to the moon by 2040.

The world’s most populous nation has a relatively low budget aerospace program which is fast approaching milestones set by global space powers.

In August 2023, India became only the fourth nation to land an unmanned spacecraft on the moon after Russia, the US and China.