Isro
The SpaDeX mission took off on December 30
The Indian space agency Isro has for the first time succeeded in achieving a space docking by bringing together two small vehicles in space.
This technology is essential to the country’s future ambition to build an Indian space station and send a person to the Moon.
The mission called SpaDeX took off from the Sriharikota launch pad in southern India on December 30. The two spacecraft, launched on a single rocket, separated in space. The docking, initially scheduled for January 7, has been postponed several times.
On Thursday morning, the space agency announced that it had created history by becoming the fourth country in the world to have such technology after the United States, Russia and China.
Isro
The mission carries two small spacecraft, called Chaser and Target.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was at the Isro office in Bangalore while the scientists carried out the test.
“This is an important stepping stone for India’s ambitious space missions in the years to come,” he later posted on X.
Federal Science Minister Jitendra Singh said he was relieved that the docking had “finally” taken place.
The two spaceships in SpaDeX (short for Space Docking Experiment) are called SDX01 or Chaser and SDX02 or Target. Each weighs around 220 kg (485 lb) and since their launch, they have been traveling through space at a carefully chosen speed.
“They were thrown into space together but at the moment of separation they were placed at different speeds to allow them to build a distance of 10 to 20 km between them,” said Mila Mitra, a former scientist at the NASA and co-founder of the Delhi-based company. space education company Stem and Space, told the BBC.
“During docking, the scientists maneuvered them to reduce this distance, allowing them to mate,” she added.
The docking was initially scheduled for January 7, but Isro later delayed it by two days, saying they “need to conduct additional testing through simulations” before the actual docking.
The second time, he said there had been a problem trying to bring the satellites together, but added that the spacecraft were safe.
On Sunday, Isro said scientists managed to reduce the distance between the fighter and the target first to 15 meters and then to 3 meters. They said that after the test attempt, the spacecraft were “replaced at a safe distance” and that they were analyzing the data.
isro
One of the mission’s payloads demonstrated the ability to grow crops in microgravity.
S Somanath, who was Isro chief when SpaDeX (short for Space Docking Experiment) was launched and was monitoring its progress till his retirement a few days ago, had described docking as “a very complex process” which required extreme precision and coordination.
To begin, both spacecraft had to be in the same orbit so that the Chaser could begin approaching the target.
On Thursday morning, scientists began by gradually reducing the speed of the two spacecraft, bringing them closer together until they were only 3 meters apart. Then their connectors were locked together.
In the next step, the two spacecraft were perfectly screwed together, creating an airtight passage for the safe transfer of equipment or crew, thus completing the space docking.
An Isro official told the BBC that over the next two to three days the mission will carry out what is billed as one of its most important experiments: it will transfer electrical energy from the Chaser to the target .
According to Ms. Mitra, this is to demonstrate that a spacecraft can be sent to provide service to another in space.
The experiment will then demonstrate “the undocking and separation of the two satellites.”
Mitra says the mission will also test India’s inter-satellite communication capabilities as during docking and undocking, the spacecraft will have to communicate with the earth station as well as each other in order to know the position and the speed of each.
Isro
The success of the SpaDeX mission is essential for India’s future space ambition
The spacecraft also carry scientific instruments and cameras which will then be deployed. Over the next two years, they will measure radiation in space and monitor Earth’s natural resources.
Isro, known for economizing on its missions, is also using part of the rocket that carried SpaDeX into space – which ordinarily would have become space debris – to conduct important experiments in orbit for three months.
Poem – short for PS4-Orbital Experiment Module – carries 24 payloads and has already carried out two successful experiments.
The first demonstrated seed germination. Last week, Isro tweeted a video saying that “cowpea sprouts revealed their first leaves in space in micro-gravity.” Microgravity is the near-weightlessness condition experienced aboard spacecraft.
Scientists say this is great news because it means future astronauts could produce food during long-duration missions.
The second experiment involves the robotic arm, which Mitra said is one of the rocket’s most important payloads. A video on Isro’s X account shows the robotic arm moving to grab a piece of space debris.
Ms. Mitra says this arm will play “a crucial role during the construction of the space station because it could be used to capture and move objects into place.” This will also be useful in Chandrayaan-4, India’s next mission to the Moon, which will aim to collect and bring back samples of lunar soil, she adds.
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