New Delhi, March 23 ISRO is currently conducting orbital docking experiments as part of its efforts to validate such technologies for complex missions such as Gaganyaan and the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Monday.
"ISRO is conducting two orbital docking experiments, namely, SpaDex-2, which replicates docking in a highly elliptical orbit for the Chandrayaan-4 (Lunar Sample Return) mission, and SpaDex-3, which replicates docking in a circular orbit as a precursor mission for docking at the 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 the Gaganyaan module to space stations like the Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS), routine crew transfer, etc.," said Singh.
The 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.
