Space travel: India is the fourth nation to perform a docking maneuver in space
India has successfully completed a prestigious maneuver in space. Two satellites were coupled in orbit.
The two Spadex satellites before launch
(Image: ISRO)
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has carried out a docking manoeuvre in space. Only three space-faring nations have managed this before.
In the early morning of January 16th Indian time, the satellite SDX01, also known as Chaser, docked with SDX02 or Target, as the ISRO announced via the short message service X (Spadex). This was “a historic moment”. Previously, only the USA, the Soviet Union, Russia, and China had carried out such a maneuver.
The two satellites of the Space Docking Experiment (Spadex) mission were launched at the end of December on board a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota in southeast India. After deploying at an altitude of around 475 kilometers, the two satellites, each weighing around 220 kilograms, were separated.
The satellites were coupled
For docking, the control center first reduced the speed of the two satellites, each weighing around 200 kilograms. They were then gradually brought closer together, according to ISRO, first to 15 meters, then to 3 meters, and finally coupled. Finally, control of the two as one object was established.
The maneuver was originally scheduled to take place on January 7, but had to be postponed twice. On the third attempt, the satellites had come within 3 meters of each other, and then ISRO aborted the maneuver.
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As part of the Spadex mission, the ISRO says it still wants to test the power supply of SDX02 by SDX01 and undock the two satellites from each other. However, on the morning of January 21, the Swiss space observation company S2A Systems announced via Platform X that the two satellites were still coupled.
India prepares manned space missions
One of the purposes of Spadex is to prepare for the manned space program Gaganyaan (Sanskrit for “celestial vehicle”). This includes the construction of its own space station in the 2030s and the establishment of a moon base in the 2040s.
India has already been to the moon unmanned: the Chandrayaan-3 probe landed at the lunar South Pole in August 2023 and returned to Earth a few months later. The upcoming lunar mission Chandrayaan-4 will collect samples on the moon and bring them back to Earth. This will also require a docking maneuver.
(wpl)
