India on Monday launched a rocket carrying two small spacecraft to test docking in space, a critical step for the nation’s dreams of a space station and a manned mission to the moon.
The mission is “vital for India’s future space ambitions,” Indian Minister of Science and Technology Jitendra Singh said in a statement ahead of the launch, which was broadcast live by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2023 announced plans to send a man to the moon by 2040.
Photo: AFP /y Handout / Indian Space Research Organisation
The PSLV-C60 rocket, which blasted off from the Sriharikota launch site with shooting flames as it soared into the night sky, included two 220kg satellites.
The ISRO has dubbed the mission SpaDeX, or Space Docking Experiment.
“PSLV-C60 successfully launches SpaDeX and 24 payloads,” the ISRO said in a statement.
The mission is intended to “develop and demonstrate the technology needed for rendezvous, docking, and undocking of two small spacecraft,” it said.
The technology is “essential” for India’s moon plans, it added, calling it a “key technology for future human spaceflight and satellite servicing missions.”
It would involve a “precision rendezvous,” maneuvering satellites orbiting Earth at speeds of 28,800kph.
Their relative velocities would be reduced to 0.036kph to “merge to form a single unit” in space, the ISRO said.
The world’s most populous nation has a comparatively low-budget aerospace program that is rapidly closing in on the milestones set by global space powers.
“Through this mission, India is marching towards becoming the fourth country in the world to have space docking technology,” the ISRO said, after Russia, the US and China.
India has flexed its spacefaring ambitions in the past decade with its space program growing considerably in size and momentum.
India in August 2023 became just the fourth nation to land an unmanned craft on the moon after Russia, the US and China.
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