New Delhi, Mar 23 (PTI) ISRO is currently studying orbital docking experiments as part of its bid to validate such technologies to undertake complex missions such as Gaganyaan and Bharatiya Antariksh Station, Union minister Jitendra Singh said on Monday.
“ISRO is studying two orbital docking experiments, viz., SpaDex-2 replicating the docking in highly elliptical orbit meeting Chandrayaan-4 (Lunar Sample Return) mission, and SpaDex-3 replicating docking in circular orbit as a precursor mission for docking in Bharatiya Space Station,” the minister stated in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
A Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) is an orbit around the Earth that is an elongated path, with a low perigee of less than 1,000 km and a high apogee of over 35,756 km. A circular orbit is a path with a fixed radius around Earth.
Singh also highlighted that the SpaDex mission demonstrates complex technologies related to rendezvous and docking, which are critical for crewed missions in crew transfer, propellant/fluid/power transfer, among others.
“Validating such technologies in orbit paves the way for undertaking complex operations such as docking of Gaganyaan module to space stations like Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS), routine crew transfer, etc,” said Singh Bharatiya Space Station is the planned modular space station to be constructed by ISRO, and the launch of its first module is expected to be in 2028. PTI ALC ALC AMJ AMJ
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.