Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu lauded ISRO’s successful PSLV-C60 mission, hailing it as a ‘milestone’ in India’s space exploration journey and a step closer to advancing human spaceflight capabilities.
Congratulations to @isro on the successful PSLV-C60 mission from Sriharikota, marking another space milestone! SpaDeX (Space Docking Experiment) is a pioneering mission to establish India’s capability in orbital docking, a crucial step for future human spaceflight and satellite… pic.twitter.com/CMBOTdkfwP
— N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) December 30, 2024
In a post on X, Mr Naidu said,” Congratulations to @isro on the successful PSLV-C60 mission from Sriharikota, marking another space milestone! SpaDeX (Space Docking Experiment) is a pioneering mission to establish India’s capability in orbital docking, a crucial step for future human spaceflight and satellite servicing.
“This success has propelled India closer to ambitious goals like Chandrayaan-4, Moon sample return, and the Bharatiya Antariksh Station,” Mr Naidu added.
In a significant milestone, ISRO on Monday launched PSLV-C60 with SpaDeX and innovative payloads from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
ISRO’s year-end mission is historic as it seeks the rare feat of docking or merging or joining together two satellites in space. The project has been named “Space Docking Experiment” (SpaDeX).
The first stage performance is normal.
SpaDeX mission is a cost-effective technology demonstrator mission for the demonstration of in-space docking using two small spacecraft launched by PSLV. The primary objective of the SpaDeX mission is to develop and demonstrate the technology needed for rendezvous, docking, and undocking of two small spacecraft (SDX01, which is the Chaser, and SDX02, the Target, nominally) in a low-Earth circular orbit.
The technological challenge has been mastered only by a few countries and the indigenous technology used for this mission is called the “Bharatiya Docking System”.
“The success of this mission is vital for India’s future space ambitions,” Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh had said earlier.
Docking technology is key for long-term missions like “Chandrayaan-4” and the planned Indian space station. It is also crucial for the eventual manned “Gaganyaan” mission.
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