India became the world’s fourth nation on Thursday to achieve the feat of space docking, a technological milestone that underlined its ambitions to boost its share of a quickly increasing $400-billion global space market.
Target and Chaser, two spacecraft of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) , successfully latched onto each other at about 9 a.m. (0330 GMT), an agency spokeswoman said.
India is positioned for a major role in commercial and exploratory space endeavors because to its indigenous technology, which is essential for satellite servicing, space station operations, and interplanetary missions.
According to astronomer Jayant Murthy, “India has ambitious missions planned and to achieve those, this is an important technology,” “Various missions, like building a space station, need assembly in space, which is not possible without space docking.”
