If successful, India will become the fourth country to achieve the milestone.
India has launched its first mission to space on an Indian-made rocket, in a bid to become the fourth country to carry out the technologically advanced mission.
The mission, called the Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX), took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Andhra Pradesh state at 16:30 GMT on Monday aboard the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) “workhorse” PSLV rocket.
About 15 minutes later, the mission director called the launch a success after the PSLV-C60 rocket reached an altitude of about 470km (292 miles).
The project is considered critical to future space efforts, including satellite servicing and the operation of the country’s planned space station. In-space docking technology is essential when multiple rocket launches are required to achieve shared mission objectives.
India’s mission involves sending two small spacecraft, each weighing 220kg (485 pounds), into a 470-kilometer circular orbit. It will also demonstrate electrical power transfer between docked spacecraft, an important capability for applications such as space robotics, control of composite spacecraft and payload operations after retraction.
Each satellite carries advanced payloads, including an imaging system and a radiation monitoring device designed to measure electron and proton radiation levels in space, providing critical data for future human spaceflight missions.
ISRO Chairman S Somanath said that the actual testing of the docking technology could take place in a week’s time and indicated a date called around January 7. “The rocket has placed the satellites in 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.
For the first time in India, the rocket and satellites were assembled and tested in a private company called Ananth Technologies, not in a government agency.
“Demonstrating this technology is not only about being able to join the group of countries that own it, it also opens up the market for ISRO to be a partner for the launch of various world missions that need landing sites or rendezvous in space,” it said. astronomer Somak Raychaudhary of Ashoka University.
The PSLV’s fourth stage, which often turns out to be space debris, has been converted into an unmanned space laboratory. The final stage of the rocket has been repurposed to become an orbital laboratory and will be used for various experiments.
“The PSLV Orbital Experiment Module (POEM) is an operational solution deployed by ISRO that allows Indian startups, academic institutions and research organizations to test their space technology without the need to launch all satellites. By making this space accessible, we are lowering the barriers to entry and enabling more organizations to play a role in the space sector,” said Pawan Goenka, chairman of India’s space agency.
The mission is “critical to India’s future aspirations,” said Jitendra Singh, the country’s minister of science and technology, in a statement ahead of the launch. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced plans last year to send a man to the Moon by 2040.
The world’s most populous country has a low-budget aerospace program that is rapidly covering important milestones set by the world’s space powers.
In August 2023, India became only the fourth country to land a manned spacecraft on the Moon after Russia, the US and China.
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