India has become the fourth country, following Russia, China, and the United States, to achieve successful "Space Docking" capabilities, a crucial milestone for future human and space missions. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) confirmed on Thursday that the spacecraft docking was successfully completed. ISRO hailed the achievement as a "historic moment" in a social media post.
ISRO space docking successful. India became fourth country to achieve successful Space Docking.(ISRO?X)
Space Docking was one of the key objectives of ISRO's SpaDeX Mission, which was launched on December 31.
“India became the 4th country to achieve successful Space Docking. Congratulations to the entire team! Congratulations to India!” ISRO posted on X.
PM Modi Extends Congratulations
Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the ISRO team for accomplishing this historic achievement. “Congratulations to our scientists at @isro and the entire space fraternity for the successful demonstration of space docking of satellites.”
PM Modi described the successful docking process as "a crucial milestone for India's ambitious space missions in the years ahead."
What is space docking?
"Docking" refers to the process in which a spacecraft is able to maneuver and attach itself to a space station autonomously. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) defines docking as “mating operations where an active vehicle approaches the mating interface using its own power.”
On the other hand, ISRO has stated that in-space docking technology is essential when several rockets are launched into space to accomplish shared mission goals.
How was the space docking carried out?
ISRO provided an explanation of the SpaDeX docking process. It said, “Manoeuvre from 15m to 3m hold point completed. Docking was initiated with precision, leading to successful spacecraft capture. Retraction was completed smoothly, followed by rigidisation for stability. Docking successfully completed.”
Later, the successful separation of the SpaDeX satellites marked another significant milestone in India's space exploration.
The SpaDeX mission was launched with two small satellites—Chaser and Target—aboard a PSLV-C60 rocket. Prior to the separation from the launch vehicle, ISRO explained that a small relative velocity was introduced between the Target and Chaser spacecraft.
This incremental velocity allowed the Target spacecraft to gradually achieve a 10-20 km separation from the Chaser within a day.
At the conclusion of the "drift arrest manoeuvre," the two spacecraft were in the same orbit, moving at identical velocities, but were separated by approximately 20 km, a phase referred to as "Far Rendezvous."
Subsequently, the Chaser closed in on the Target, progressively reducing the distance between them in stages—5 km, 1.5 km, 500 m, 225 m, 15 m, and finally 3 m—culminating in a successful docking of the two satellites.
After docking and rigidization, electrical power transfer between the satellites will be demonstrated before they undock and separate to begin operating their respective payloads.
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