India attempts first space docking for lunar missions, eyes elite club

By Eltaf Najafizada  India put into orbit two small satellites for its first space docking experiment, a key step toward meeting the country’s ambitions to build its own space station and carry out a manned mission to the moon.

 

The initial docking attempt could take place by Jan. 7, S. Somanath, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, said in an address after the launch on Monday.

 

“This mission will be a forerunner for autonomous docking needed for future lunar missions like Chandrayaan-4 without the support of global navigation satellite systems from Earth,” Isro had said in a Dec. 21 statement. “This technology is essential for India’s space ambitions such as Indian on Moon, sample return from the Moon, the building and operation of Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS) etc.”

 

 

If successful, India will join the US, Russia and China in mastering the technology. 

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants India to be a space power. Last year India beat other nations to the lunar south pole, it aims to launch astronauts into orbit in 2025, and is among a small group of countries with probes studying the sun. Modi’s government has allowed foreign companies to invest in manufacturing units and satellite services, and India’s space agency is partnering with peers all over the world. 

 

Isro launched a satellite on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in November, the first time the agency used one of Elon Musk’s rockets. A joint NASA-Isro satellite to measure the movements of land and ice-covered surfaces on Earth is scheduled to launch early next year from India. In December an Indian rocket launched two European satellites, the first by Isro for its European counterpart in about two decades. 

 

India’s space program dates to the 1970s when it received support from the Soviet Union. Currently Russia is providing spacesuits and other equipment for Gaganyaan, India’s project to send people to space for the first time, and Gaganyaan astronauts have received training in Russia.

 

The Space Docking Experiment mission, or SpaDex, lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota of Andhra Pradesh state at 10:00 p.m. local time Monday. The rocket, PSLV-C60, has reached an altitude of about 470 km and Isro called the mission “successful” 15 minutes after it placed the satellites into orbit.