SpaDeX could boost ISRO’s ‘Indians on the Moon’, Chandrayaan-4 mission: All about the space agency’s new launch on December 30 mint

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will launch its PSLV-C60/SpaDeX mission on December 30, 2024 at 9:58 pm from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The SpaDeX mission will launch on a PSLV-C60 rocket.

Why is SpaDeX mission important for ISRO and India?

It is expected that this mission will prove to be a game-changer for Indian space technology. It will perform a docking in space using two small spacecraft.

ISRO said, “This groundbreaking technology is important for future lunar missions, construction of the Indian Space Station (BAS) and much more.”

With this mission, India aims to join the exclusive club of countries with space-docking capabilities. If successful, India will be poised to become the fourth country in the world to have space-docking technology.

Importance of in-space docking

“Docking” is when a spacecraft can maneuver and attach itself to a space station. For many years, there has been much interest in automated spacecraft docking and rendezvous.

Meanwhile, NASA defines docking as “the mating operation where an active vehicle flies to the mating interface under its own power”.

Science Direct reported that spacecraft docking has important applications such as delivering supplies to manned space stations, refueling space vehicles and recovering daughter spacecraft that have separated from the parent spacecraft.

It states, “Starting with the manned missions represented by Gemini 8, Apollo, and Soyuz, interest and demand in space docking is moving toward unmanned, automated operations.”

Similarly, ISRO stated that this technology is essential for India’s space ambitions, such as “Indians on the Moon”, sample return from the Moon. [Chandrayaan 4 mission]and construction and operation of the Indian Space Station (BAS).”

“In-space docking technology is essential when multiple rocket launches are required to achieve common mission objectives,” the Indian space agency said.

India’s space ambitions

The Center announced its Space Vision 2047 earlier this year, which aims to establish an Indian Space Station (BAS) by 2035 and send an Indian to the Moon by 2040. ISRO also aims to launch Chandrayaan-4 mission to bring back lunar samples by 2027. ,

What to expect from Spadex Mission?

According to ISRO, the primary objective of the SpaDeX mission is to develop and demonstrate the technology required for rendezvous, docking and undocking of two small spacecraft in low-Earth circular orbit.

Of the two spacecraft, one is SDX01, which is the chaser, and the other is SDX02, the target. Each weighs 220 kg.

The SpaDeX mission will also conduct microgravity experiments using PSLV’s spent fourth stage, called POEM-4 (PSLV Orbital Experimental Module). It will carry 24 payloads – of which 14 payloads are from ISRO/DOS centers and 10 payloads are from various Non-Government Entities (NGEs).

What will happen during the Spadex mission?

Here’s what ISRO explained:

The mission’s two small spacecraft will be launched by PSLV-C60, independently and simultaneously, into a 470 km circular orbit at 55° inclination. The local time cycle will be approximately 66 days.

A small relative velocity will be imparted between the target and the chaser spacecraft at the time of separation from the launch vehicle.

This incremental velocity will allow the target spacecraft to create 10–20 km inter-satellite separation with respect to the chaser within a day.

At the end of this “drift arrest maneuver”, the target and chaser will be in the same orbit with the same velocity but separated by about 20 km, known as “far rendezvous”.

The chaser will then approach the target with progressively shorter inter-satellite distances of 5 km, 1.5 km, 500 m, 225 m, 15 m and 3 m, ultimately leading to the docking of the two spacecraft.

Following successful docking and rigging, electrical power transfer will be performed between the two satellites before they undock and separate to begin operation of their respective payloads.

Expected mission life is up to two years.