India has taken a step towards manned spaceflight – docking demonstrators have been launched into orbit

India is getting closer to the day of the first national manned space flight. This should happen in 2026, but for now equipment is being tested at intermediate stages. In particular, yesterday India launched a rocket into low orbit with a range of payloads, the most important of which were two satellites with elements of docking nodes for future manned spacecraft and the station.

Image source: ISRO

The PSLV-C60 rocket carrying SpaDeX and POEM-4 payloads was launched on December 30 at 21:00 local time from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on the Sriharikot Peninsula (19:30 Moscow time). The SpaDeX payload consisted of two 220 kg satellites with docking node demonstrators. The units are equipped with elements for automatic docking (laser rangefinders and corner reflectors). One of the satellites will be the target, and the second will maneuver.

The docking is expected to take place on January 7, 2025. Both vehicles were launched into a target orbit at an altitude of 475 km with an inclination of 55 degrees. They will deploy solar panels and are generally designed to operate as off-grid platforms. After docking, an experiment will be carried out to transfer power from one device to another. They will then undock and continue to fly missions independently for about two more years.

It is important for ISRO that the rendezvous and automatic docking phase go as smoothly as possible. In the future, these units will be installed on the agency’s manned spacecraft, station and lunar vehicles, because India is moving towards returning samples from the Moon, and for this, the return and launch module must be able to dock and undock.

The second payload package – POEM-4 – also delivered into space last night, contained 14 ISRO and other Indian government payloads, as well as 10 commercial payloads. The latter included a robotic manipulator, a manipulator for capturing garbage, a module for growing plants in space, and a number of others.

It is interesting to add that by the end of this year, India was also going to send a ship with a “space friend” dummy into space. Another rocket was being prepared for this, but so far nothing has been heard about it. An uncrewed launch is expected in 2025, and India will launch its own rocket into space for the first time in 2026, making it the fourth country in space history to achieve this scientific feat.