In a historic move, the ISRO on Thursday successfully completed the docking of satellites as part of the Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX), thus making India the fourth country after the US, Russia and China to accomplish the feat
Two satellites came as close as three metres in a trial attempt for space docking and are now moving back, the Indian space agency said on Sunday.
Space docking is a complex process requiring high precision, and mastering it is critical for missions that involve assembling large structures in orbit or servicing satellites.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) aims to launch the Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) mission, aboard the PSLV-C60 rocket, at 21:58 IST from Sriharikota on December 30.
Satellites are integral to our life and civilisation. Without them, there would be no communication network or Global Positioning System (GPS).
Transfer of these assets to NSIL will further provide the desired financial autonomy to the company to realize capital intensive programmes/projects and thereby offering huge employment potential and technology spin-off to other sectors of the economy.
"India has a total of 53 operational satellites in space providing various identified services to the nation. 21 of these are communication satellites, 8 are Navigation satellites, 21 are Earth Observation Satellites and 3 are Science Satellites," the Minister said while replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha.
With today's successful mission, the ISRO has put into orbit 319 foreign satellites.
The launch was originally scheduled for last week but was postponed, first due to high winds and then due to the need for a software update.
The satellites, both belonging to the Yaogan-32 family, were launched by a Long March-2C rocket with an upper stage on its top, at 10:43 am (local time), Xinhua news agency reported.
