India’s space milestone: Becomes fourth nation to master space docking

In a technological milestone highlighting its aspirations to increase its share of the fast-expanding $400 billion global space market, India became the fourth country in the world to accomplish the feat of space docking on Jan 16 after the United States, Russia and China.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced that its two satellites, Target and Chaser, which are about the size of a big refrigerator each, successfully locked onto one another at around 9 am (03:30 GMT).

With its own technology that is essential for space station operations, satellite maintenance, and interplanetary missions, India is well-positioned to play a significant role in both commercial and exploratory space endeavors.

"India has ambitious missions planned, and to achieve those, this is an important technology," astrophysicist Jayant Murthy said.

"Various missions, like building a space station, need assembly in space, which is not possible without space docking,” Murthy added.

ISRO has announced that it will now manage the two satellites involved in its Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) as a single entity and conduct power transfer checks in the coming days.

The mission had been delayed twice: once to address an issue caused by excessive drift between the satellites and again to validate the docking process using ground simulations.

Using an Indian-made rocket, SpaDeX sent the satellites into orbit on Dec 30.

Eight cowpea seeds, which were transported to space to investigate plant growth in microgravity settings, germinated within four days of the mission's launch, one of 24 payloads and experiments.

This is a crucial step in showing that food can eventually be grown in space during lengthy trips, according to scientists.

Additionally, the mission will show how electric power can be transferred between docked spacecraft, which is essential for applications like payload operations after undocking, in-space robotics, and composite spacecraft control.

These methods are crucial for missions that need to fire rockets more than once.

In order to establish India as a worldwide superpower, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made space exploration and commercialization a priority.

The successful SpaDeX mission "is a significant stepping stone for India's ambitious space missions in the years to come," Modi said on X.

India gave its space dreams a boost on Jan 16 when it approved the construction of a third launch pad in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

The project is expected to be finished in four years and would cost ₹39.85 billion rupees.

In partnership with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), ISRO is working on programs ranging from solar studies to orbital astronaut missions and planetary defense, all with the goal of facilitating private enterprises to commercialize the deep-space exploration industry.

India wants to increase its stake from $8 billion, or 2% of the current industry, to $44 billion by 2040, since the global commercial space market is predicted to reach $1 trillion by 2030.