Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) puts the first brick of the superstructure of India’s home in space when it succeeded in coupling two Indian satellites in space, today, under its SpaDeX space program. This success will give a big boost to speed up the race to establish Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS) in a decade. Space docking is a complex mechanism in which two human-made objects are joined in space at very high speeds. This is a very hard and complex technology that is essential to assemble prefabricated modules and trusses in space by connecting them using attachment mechanisms.
The importance of this success is summarised as: i) It would help in building the superstructure of the Indian space station by assembling different prefabricated modules using docking technology, ii) It would allow the astronauts to go to the space station in crewed spacecraft that can dock with the station. Once the space station is manned and becomes operational, this technology will the periodical cargo supply missions in cargo spacecraft as well as shifting astronauts after their tenures with others, iii) Initially the Indian space station will be small but if India plans to expand and accommodate other international players in the future, docking technology will greatly help and iv) India has several satellites in Low Earth Orbit with limited life spans due to limitations of technology. These existing satellites can be serviced using docking technology thereby increasing their lifetimes and saving a lot of money.
The next brick for our home in space would be put when ISRO succeeds in testing its Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstration (RLV-TD) for an Orbital Return flight Experiment (OREX). As a precursor to this experiment, a highly successful and crucial test flight of RLV Landing Experiment (LEX) was conducted in June 2024 when a space plane named Pushpak executed a precise horizontal landing showcasing advanced autonomous capabilities under challenging conditions. The Pushpak is expected to carry our astronauts and cargo to space station and come back to Earth for its next mission. The work on this experiment is going on at a hectic pace and today’s success of SpaDeX will create a sense of urgency amongst the Indian space scientists to occupy our home in space as soon as possible.
At present, two space stations are fully operational, the International Space Station (ISS) with the participation of 15 countries, and China’s Tiangong Space Station (TSS). Several private companies like Axiom Space, Blue Origin, Sierra Space, and Northrop Grumman are in the race to develop commercial space stations under the guidance of NASA. This year 2025 India looks to be all fired up to get its slice both in space above the earth and on earth as a spiritual leader of the world. The global impact of Kumbh Mela where millions of people including foreigners from more than 60 countries dock at the confluence of three rivers, Ganga, Jamuna, and Saraswati to take a holy dip in Prayagraj shows India’s prowess over a wide spectrum ranging from scientific infinity to spiritual infinity, both searching for limits of endless quantities of our existence.