India on its way to becoming a part of the elite club with the launch of Spadax Mission, know the importance of the mission

New Delhi : India on Monday moved one step closer to becoming part of an elite group of countries with space-docking technology. It is going to demonstrate the ability to connect two spacecraft in space. For this, two small satellites weighing 220 kg have been placed in orbit by ISRO. The satellites, part of the Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) mission, lifted off around 10 pm on PSLV-C60 from the first launchpad at the spaceport in Sriharikota.

India will join the elite club

It has been placed in a circular orbit of 475 kilometers by ISRO. The first of the two satellites separated 15.1 minutes after launch, and the second at 15.2 minutes. According to M. Sankaran, Director of UR Rao Satellite Center (URSC), the satellites to be launched separately – ‘Chaser’ and ‘Target’ spacecraft will initially be launched with a small relative velocity between them.

If ISRO manages this successfully, India will take the first serious steps towards mastering the technology. Till now only America, Russia and China claim to be successful in this technology.

Important for the future including space station

The mission is crucial for India’s future space endeavours, including Chandrayaan-4 and the planned Indian Space Station (BAS), as confirmed by ISRO Chairman S Somnath, ISRO Chairman S Somnath said soon after the launch. The rocket has placed the satellite in the correct orbit. The satellites moved one after the other.

Somnath said that in the next few days their distance will increase to about 20 km. After this, docking will be attempted after reducing their difference. We expect to complete the docking in the coming weeks. The date for this is 7th January.

24 POEM payload

In addition to the primary docking experiment, the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM) carried 24 innovative payloads. These include many unprecedented experiments. Among the highlights are India’s first astrobiology payload, which includes a microbiological experiment from RV College of Engineering. It will study the behavior of gut bacteria in space. Amity University will investigate the growth of spinach in microgravity.

ISRO is also launching its own CROPS (Compact Research Module for Orbital Plant Studies) payload to demonstrate seed germination in space. Also included is a robotic arm designed to capture space debris and a sophisticated inter-satellite communications system. ISRO will demonstrate a unique ‘walking’ robotic arm with 7 degrees of freedom. Its purpose is to help future space station operations.

Private sector payloads also included

The private sector has also sent payloads on POEM. Ahmedabad-based startup Pearsite has launched Varuna. This could be India’s first private synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite for maritime surveillance. The company aims to establish a constellation of 32 satellites for comprehensive ocean monitoring by 2028.

The other payloads are from Mumbai-based Manastu and Bengaluru’s Bellatrix Aerospace. Both are testing their respective green propulsion technology. While Bengaluru’s GalaxyEye is showcasing its SAR signal processing technology. Hyderabad’s Techme2Space is showcasing the nanosatellite subsystem.

Other participating educational institutions include SJC Institute of Technology and MIT World Peace University. Karnataka’s SJC is sending a multimode message transmitter payload that can transmit audio, text and image messages from satellite to ground using FM modulation and VHF bands. It is designed to provide amateur radio satellite services on a global scale. It was designed in collaboration with ISRO’s URSC.