NEW DELHI: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to reach a historic milestone with its 100th rocket launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in January, ISRO Chairman S Somanath announced. This achievement will be highlighted by a Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV) mission, following Monday’s successful PSLV-C60 mission, which marked the 99th launch from the Sriharikota spaceport. India on Monday took a major step towards joining an exclusive group of nations with space-docking technology — the ability to mate two spacecraft in space.
ISRO successfully placed two small satellites, each weighing 220 kg, into orbit as part of the Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) mission. The PSLV-C60 rocket, which lifted off just after 10 PM from the first launchpad at Sriharikota, placed the satellites into a 475-km circular orbit about 15 minutes later. The first satellite separated 15.
1 minutes after launch, followed by the second at 15.2 minutes. M Sankaran, Director of the UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), explained that the 'chaser' and 'target' spacecraft were launched with a small relative velocity, allowing them to move towards each other for potential future docking operations.
Speaking after the successful PSLV-C60 launch, Somanath highlighted the significance of the milestone: "So, all of you have seen the majestic lift-off and the launch of the SpaDeX (Space Docking Experiment) rocket, and for us, this is the 99th launch of any vehicle from Satish Dhawan Spac.
