Gates in the sky: On ISRO and SpaDeX
Docking technology allows ISRO to think of longer space flights
Docking allows spacefaring components to be launched separately and assembled in space to form a larger module. This allows a space agency to plan interplanetary missions whose spacecraft are heavier than what the heaviest rockets can launch. Docking is thus a symbolic gateway to new opportunities, with the Chandrayaan-4 lunar sample return mission being a good example. In anticipation, ISRO loaded the SpaDeX satellites with enough fuel for multiple tries and also continuously collected data. Its own nervousness became evident, too: after the first two attempts, it backed down from its promise to live-stream the successful one. Docking technology has become desirable thanks to the perceived inevitability of long-duration spaceflight. The pressure to lower costs imposed by, say, crewed missions to Mars or space-mining operations has rendered ideas such as in-space satellite servicing and orbital resupply platforms, both of which require docking, more lucrative. ISRO plans to start launching the ‘Bharatiya Antariksh Station’ (BAS) later this decade. As it embarks on a new phase of operations, with V. Narayanan as its new chairman, ISRO should also describe a coherent vision for the ex ante utility expected of BAS. Without this context, the larger pieces of the Indian space programme and their purpose relative to other countries’ plans seem adrift.