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India on Monday launched a rocket carrying two small spacecraft to conduct a docking test in space. This is an important step towards the country’s dream of a space station and a manned moon mission.
The mission is “crucial for India’s future space ambitions,” Jitendra Singh, the country’s science and technology minister, said in a pre-launch statement broadcast live by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year announced plans to send a man to the moon by 2040.
The PSLV-C60 rocket soared into the night sky ablaze Monday night at the Sriharikota launch site, carrying two 220-kilogram (485-pound) satellites.
ISRO has named this mission SpaDeX (Space Docking Experiment).
“PSLV-C60 successfully launched SpaDeX and 24 payloads,” the company said in a statement.
It added that the mission aims to “develop and demonstrate the technologies necessary for rendezvous, docking, and undocking of two small spacecraft.”
It added that the technology is “essential” to India’s moon program and “a critical technology for future human spaceflight and satellite maintenance missions.”
This includes “precision rendezvous,” which involves piloting a satellite in orbit around the Earth at speeds of 28,800 kilometers per hour (17,895 miles per hour).
According to ISRO, their relative speed will be reduced to 0.036 km/h to “merge in space to form a single unit”.
The world’s most populous country has a relatively low-budget aerospace program and is rapidly approaching milestones set by the world’s space powers.
“Through this mission, India is moving towards becoming the fourth country in the world to have space docking technology after Russia, the US and China,” ISRO added.
The world’s most populous country has flexed its space travel ambitions over the past decade, with the size and momentum of its space program increasing significantly and rivaling the achievements of established powers at a much cheaper price. I’ve done it.
In August 2023, it became the fourth country to land an unmanned spacecraft on the moon, following Russia, the United States, and China.
© 2024 AFP
Citation: Indian Rocket Space Docking Mission (December 30, 2024) Retrieved December 31, 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2024-12-india-rocket-space-docking-mission.html
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