New Delhi:
Two Indian satellites – zipping through deep space at 28,800 kilometers per hour, or speeds 28 times faster than a cruising a commercial passenger jet and 10 times a speeding bullet – are ‘dancing’ with each other in precision flight patterns orchestrated by the Indian Space Research Organisation.
This high-speed dance – think of it as two happy young people, twirling and twisting but never actually touching each other – takes place every 90 minutes and nearly 500km above the Earth’s surface, and it is part of the ongoing Space Docking Experiment, or SpaDeX, that ISRO began in December.
It should be noted that as part of this experiment India succeeded in docking the twin satellites – one a ‘chaser’ and the other a ‘target’ – on January 16 and then, after waiting patiently for the right position of the Sun, undocked, or de-docked, them on March 13.
In doing so, India became the fourth country in the world, after the United States, Russia, and China to have mastered this complex piece of space technology.
VIDEO | ISRO Shares “Spectacular View” Of De-Docking Of SpaDeX Satellites
More notable, India did it on the maiden launch itself, and with indigenously developed technology – the Bharatiya Docking System. And with this mission costing less than Rs 300 crore, ISRO continues its low-cost, high-value missions for which it has become world-famous.
On the flip side, there was one crucial experiment in the SpaDeX mission – to transfer electrical power from one satellite to the other – that was not completed in the first round of docking, ISRO chief Dr V Narayanan confirmed.
The ‘chaser’ and ‘target’ satellites circling 500km above Earth.
“In the first attempt there was a suspicion of a minor mis-alignment of the power transfer ports (and) hence this was postponed to the next round,” Dr Narayanan confirmed.
But all is not lost.
In fact, the best may still have to come, in May. “There is enough fuel left on the SpaDeX satellites to complete the mission,” the ISRO boss said.
ISRO had said earlier SpaDeX’s primary objectives are to develop and demonstrate technology for rendezvous, and docking, using two small spacecraft, and to demonstrate controllability in the docked condition, thereby showing potential for extending the target craft’s life.
VIDEO | How ISRO Carried Out Historic SpaDeX Satellite Docking Mission
Secondary objectives include post-docking activities in which the spacecraft will perform independent payload operations, the space agency said.
Earlier, after the successful docking, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, “Congratulations to our scientists at ISRO and the entire space fraternity for the successful demonstration of space docking of satellites. It is a significant stepping stone for India’s ambitious space missions in the years to come.”
And an elated Science Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh, said, “Congrats ISRO. Finally made it. SpaDeX has accomplished the unbelievable… docking complete… and it is all indigenous.”
“This paves the way for smooth conduct of ambitious future missions, including the Bharatiya Antariksha Station (India’s planned modular space station), Chandrayaan 4 (a lunar sample return mission expected to launch in 2027), and Gaganyaan (India’s crewed spaceflight).”
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