India achieved a major milestone in space exploration on Thursday (January 16), becoming the fourth nation to successfully perform an unmanned docking in space.
The feat places India alongside the United States, Russia, and China as the only countries capable of developing and executing docking technology.
“Spacecraft docking successfully completed! A historic moment,” the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced on X.
The mission, known as the Space Docking Experiment (SpaDex), involved deploying two small spacecraft, each weighing approximately 220 kilograms, into low Earth orbit. Named Target and Chaser, the spacecraft were launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Andhra Pradesh on December 30 aboard an Indian-built PSLV rocket.
On Thursday, the two spacecraft successfully performed a rendezvous before docking.
India’s “SpaDex mission marks the beginning of a new era in space exploration, showcasing India’s technological prowess and ambition,” Minister for Space Jitendra Singh said on X at the time it launched.
As part of the mission, the docked spacecraft will also test the transfer of electric power between them, a capability crucial for operating in-space robotics, spacecraft control, and payload operations during future missions.
Docking technology is set to play a vital role in the assembly of space stations and crewed missions, enabling essential capabilities such as in-orbit refueling and the construction of heavy infrastructure in microgravity environments.
“ISRO has demonstrated it is good at launching and putting things in orbit, as well as landing,” said astrophysicist Somak Raychaudhury, vice-chancellor at Ashoka University on the outskirts of New Delhi. “Now, docking is an important part of upcoming missions – and ISRO is now graduating to a very, very significant level.”
India’s Space Progress Under Modi
India’s space aspirations have gained momentum under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who began his third term in office last June and has been working to elevate India’s standing on the global stage.
In 2023, India made history by becoming the fourth country to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon. The groundbreaking Chandrayaan-3 mission, which achieved the first soft landing near the moon’s largely unexplored South Pole, has gathered valuable samples aiding scientists in uncovering insights into the moon’s formation and evolution.
