Isro to hold space-docking experiment next year, a step towards setting up space station

NEW DELHI: Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is now gearing up to conduct a space docking experiment (Spadex) next year.
Talking to TOI, Isro chairman K Sivan says, “We are going to conduct a docking experiment next year in which two experimental modules will be sent to space (on board a PSLV rocket) and the two will be made to dock with each other in space.”
The space agency has to master the complex docking technology as it is an essential building-block process for setting up the countrys own space station and sending humans to that station. It involves latching of one satellite with another with the help on-board cameras and constant monitoring by the earth station. The process is complex as it involves controlling the speed of the two satellites and bringing them together so that they can dock and become a larger structure.
However, Sivan clarified that the next year's test doesnt mean that the space station programme will start from this experiment as the concrete plan for the space station will emerge only after the human spaceflight programme or Gaganyaan mission is launched by December 2021. Under the Gaganyaan mission, three humans will be sent to space for 5 to 7 days for doing microgravity tests and other space experiments.
Earlier, the Isro chief had announced, “The Indian space station will have a mass of 20 tonnes and be used for scientific studies, including microgravity tests. It will have a provision for a few people to live for 15-20 days.” If successful in setting up its own space station in 5 to 7 years, India will become the fourth country after Russia, the US and China to have its own station.
In June this year, Isro had asked researchers to use the fourth stage of its workhorse PSLV rocket to find ways to dock a robotic arm with the spacecraft soon after Sivan made an announcement in Delhi about the desi space station.
Space docking is broadly meant for two purposes—for sending human beings from a shuttle to a space station or for assembling large satellites in space. The International Space Station, a joint project of five space agencies — Nasa (US), Roscosmos (RussiRead More – Source