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ARCHIVE - Employees of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and journalists follow the speech of India's Prime Minister Modi after the successful landing of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the moon. Photo: Aijaz Rahi/AP/dpa
Keystone
According to India's space agency, two satellites have successfully docked in space. One of the spacecraft successfully captured the other and the subsequent docking was also completed, the Isro agency announced on Platform X. India is one of the few countries to have carried out such a maneuver.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the agency for the successful docking experiment in space (SpaDex). "This is a significant step for India's ambitious space missions in the coming years," he wrote on X.
Flown into space with Indian rocket
A carrier rocket was launched on Monday last week with the two satellites weighing around 220 kilograms from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on the south-east coast of India. The spacecraft were to gradually approach each other during a so-called space rendezvous on a circular earth orbit and finally connect with each other. They are due to separate again in the coming days.
Both satellites are equipped with different payloads, including cameras and devices for radiation monitoring. Among other things, the docking experiment will also demonstrate the transfer of electrical energy between two connected satellites in space.
According to the space agency, the docking technology is an important part of upcoming projects such as the planned Indian moon missions or the construction and operation of an Indian space station. The organization plans to bring material samples from the moon back to Earth in 2028.
16.01.2025, 09:30
