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Indian space agency Isro has successfully carried out a space docking for the first time, connecting two small craft in space.
The technology is important to the country’s future ambitions to build an Indian space station and send a man to the moon.
A mission called SpaDeX exploded from the Sriharikota launch pad in southern India on December 30. Two spaceships, launched on the same rocket, separated in space. The docking, originally scheduled for January 7, was repeatedly postponed.
On Thursday morning, the space agency announced that it had made history, becoming only the fourth country in the world to have such technology, after the United States, Russia and China.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was at the Isro office in Bangalore when scientists conducted the test.
“This is an important stepping stone for India’s ambitious space missions in the coming years,” he later wrote on X.
Federal Science Minister Jitendra Singh expressed relief that the docking had “finally” taken place.
The two spacecraft on SpaDeX (short for Space Docking Experiment) are called SDX01 or Chaser and SDX02 or Target. Each weighed about 220 kg (485 lb), and since launch they have traveled through space at a carefully selected speed.
“They were launched into space together, but at the time of separation they were placed at different speeds to allow them to create a distance of 10-20 km between them,” Mila Mitra, former NASA scientist and co-founder of Delhi. Space education company Stem and Space, the BBC reported.
“During docking, scientists maneuvered them to close the distance, which allowed them to mate,” she added.
Docking was initially scheduled for January 7, but Isro later postponed it by two days, saying that “further tests using simulations are required” before the actual docking.
The second time it was said that an attempt to bring the satellites closer had failed, but added that spaceships were safe.
On Sunday, Isro said that scientists managed to reduce the distance between the Chaser and the Target first to 15 meters and then to 3 meters. They said the spacecraft was “moved to a safe distance” after the test attempt and that they were analyzing the data.
S Somanath, who was the head of Isro when SpaDeX (short for Space Docking Experiment) was launched and followed its progress until his retirement a few days ago, described docking as a “very complex process” that requires extreme precision and coordination.
To begin with, the two spacecraft had to be in the same orbit before the Chaser could begin to approach the Target.
On Thursday morning, scientists began to gradually reduce the speed of the two spacecraft – bringing them closer until they were just 3 meters apart. Then their connectors were connected together.
In the next step, the two spacecraft were perfectly bolted together, creating a sealed passageway for the safe transfer of material or crew, completing the space docking.
An Isro spokesperson told the BBC that over the next two to three days, the mission will conduct what it calls one of its most important experiments – it will transfer power from the Chaser to the Target.
This, according to Ms. Mitra, is to demonstrate that a spacecraft can be sent to service another in space.
The experiment will then demonstrate the “undocking and separation of the two satellites.”
Ms Mitra says the mission will also test India’s intersatellite communication capabilities, as during docking and undocking the spacecraft will need to communicate with the ground station as well as each other so they know each other’s position and speed.
The spacecraft also carries scientific instruments and cameras that will later be deployed. Over the next two years, they will measure radiation in space and monitor natural resources on Earth.
Isro, known for being frugal in its missions, is also using part of the rocket that carried SpaDeX into space – which would normally become space junk – to conduct some important experiments in orbit for three months.
Poem – short for PS4-Orbital Experiment Module – carries 24 payloads and has already conducted two successful experiments.
The first demonstrated seed germination. Last week, Isro tweeted video that “Vignette sprouts have opened their first leaves in space in microgravity”. Microgravity is a state of near weightlessness aboard a spacecraft.
Scientists say this is great news because it means future astronauts will be able to forage for food during long-duration missions.
The second experiment involves a robotic arm, which Ms Mitra says is one of the rocket’s most important payloads. A video on the Isro X account shows a robotic arm moving to grab a piece of space debris.
Ms Mitra says the arm will play a “crucial role during the construction of the space station as it could be used to grab and place things”. It will also be needed in Chandrayaan-4, India’s next mission to the moon, which will be aimed at collecting and returning lunar soil samples, she adds.
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