New Delhi:

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is attempting to mate two satellites in the near vacuum of space, both of which would travel at a velocity ten times the speed of a bullet – a tough challenge to arrest two orbiting space assets and nudge them into a single spacecraft. It will take place under the ‘SpaDeX’ or Space Docking Experiment mission scheduled on December 30.

The mission is called ‘space docking’ and has been in the making for more than a decade in Bengaluru.

To date, only Russia, US, and China have mastered the complex technology and none share the intricacies of this process.

How ISRO will dock two satellites

The PSLV rocket will carry two specially designed satellites each weighing about 220 kg and then attempt docking and undocking at 470 kilometers above the Earth. The space agency will use a specially designed space docking mechanism called the ‘Bhartiya Docking System’ which meets the International Docking System Standard (IDSS) developed by NASA.

“India had to develop its own docking mechanism since no one shares the fine details of this hugely complex process,” ISRO Chairman Dr S Somanath told NDTV.

Interestingly, ISRO has already taken a patent on the Indian docking mechanism.

The two satellites will be travelling at a velocity of about 28,800 kilometers per hour or about 36 times the speed of a commercial airplane or ten times the velocity of a bullet in the near-Earth orbit. Using specially designed rockets and a suite of sensors the relative velocities of the satellites will be slowed down to almost zero or just about 0.036 kilometers per hour or to 10 millimeters per second and then they will be mated together.

Two independent spacecraft, ‘Chaser’ and ‘Target’, will be conjoined to become one entity in space.

“This sounds simple but to do this autonomously is a Herculean challenge as the physics involved is complex since both satellites have to remain in orbit and more importantly not crash into each other,” Dr Somanath said.

“Mastering docking is a necessary step if India has to send Chandryaan-4, build a space station, and then send an Indian to the moon…SpaDeX is one mission with many-many objectives, truly the fullest use of tax payer money to innovate and catapult India into the next league of space fairing nations,” he added.

According to ISRO, SpaDeX mission is a cost-effective technology demonstrator mission for the demonstration of in-space docking using two small spacecraft launched by PSLV. This technology is essential for India’s space ambitions such as Indian on the moon, sample return from the moon, and the building and operation of Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS), among others. In-space docking technology is essential when multiple rocket launches are required to achieve common mission objectives.

The SpaDeX mission was conceived and designed by scientists at ISRO but the final assembly, integration, and testing of the satellite was done at Ananth Technologies – a Bengaluru-based space technology company started in 1992 by an ex-ISRO employee turned entrepreneur Dr Subba Rao Pavuluri.

“It was a bold move to let a private company undertake this complex job but they came out with flying colors,” Dr M Sankaran, Director, UR Rao Satellite Center, Bengaluru, said.

The Bhartiya Docking System is so sophisticated and more modern that in its current avatar, it uses only two motors compared to the 24 motors used in the IDSS. In its current format, it is only 450 millimeters in diameter but the final goal will be to develop an 800 millimeter-diameter docking port that will connect the Indian Gaganyaan Crew Module to the Bhartiya Antariksha Station.

The docking experiment is likely to be done by early in the New Year, Dr Sankaran said.

Through this mission, India is marching towards becoming the fourth country in the world to have space docking technology.

Hyderabad:

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S Somanath on Wednesday said that the space program has built “indigenous capability” in space sector adding that they have their own programs and ways to decide what to do with that in future.

S Somanath today visited Kalam’s Institute of Youth Excellence in Hyderabad and facilitated students.

“The space program has built indigenous capability in the space sector from building our rockets, satellites and our application programs to serve the country in civilian and strategic sectors. We have accomplished that. Today, we are a force to reckon with in the space sector and we have our own programs and ways to decide what to do with that in future. That is the power we have today. Now, with the opening of the space sector, private companies and start-ups are coming and this area is going to expand in terms of economic activity in space sector. The change is what is happening now,” he said.

Further, S Somanath said that Kalam’s Institute of Youth Excellence have been working hard to inspire young people.

“They have been working very hard to inspire young people especially to what Kalam did in the past, creating an inspirational story around India’s growth. Today I got the opportunity to interact with the students and I believe it will make them easier to understand the path they will take in the space sector. ISRO will help in best possible way to help them,” he said.

Earlier, Director General of European Space Agency (ESA), Josef Aschbacher, heaped praise on the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for its recent successful launches and said that India’s accomplishments in space and especially in lunar exploration is ‘astonishing’.

Aschbacher posted an appreciation post on X, after ESA hosted its 323rd Council meeting in Paris which was attended by the ISRO Chairman, S Somanath.

“What India is accomplishing in space – especially in Lunar exploration – is astonishing. We hosted ISRO’s Chairman, Dr. S. Somanath at ESA Council today. It was a milestone occasion for Delegates to learn more about current and future plans for ESA-ISRO cooperation,” he posted on X.

India is now the first nation to reach near the Moon’s unexplored South Pole and ranks amongst the top four nations to carry out a soft landing on the lunar surface.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)