NEW DELHI: A day after the successful launch of the SpaDeX mission, space minister Jitendra Singh on Tuesday said January 7 is the likely date for the docking of two satellites of the mission, which is “totally indigenous”.
The SPADEX mission exemplifies India’s capability to achieve on-orbit docking, a critical technology for future manned and deep-space missions.On X, Singh said, “India has become the fourth country to join the select league of nations to achieve space docking, through its own indigenously developed ‘Bharatiya Docking System.”
On the two satellites called ‘Chaser’ and ‘Target’, Singh told the media, “This is certainly the first such mission with smaller satellites. We will scale it up with heavier satellites and this docking technology will help us in setting up the Bharatiya Antariksha Station and subsequent missions to it.”
Docking technology is crucial for long-term missions like Chandrayaan-4, planned Indian space station, and eventual manned Gaganyaan mission.
“The ‘docking’ capability will enable future missions to accomplish unimaginable outcomes through transfer of payloads in space which will be a kind of a miracle and a testimony to ‘Viksit Bharat’,” Singh said.
The space minister said, “A humble tribute to PM @narendramodi’s mantra of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ heading towards ‘Viksit Bharat,’ which will pave the way for a journey beyond the skies for ‘Gaganyaan’ and ‘Bharatiya Antariksha Station’.”
In a post on X, Union home minister Amit Shah said,”Bharat paces to become the fourth nation to master space docking. He said, “Kudos to Team @isro on the successful launch of #SpaDeX Mission.”
