The Indian Space Research Organisation has added another feather to its cap with the Spadex mission, successfully docking two satellites in space. Docking is a critical capability without which India’s future space projects, including the setting up of a permanent station in space or landing of human beings on the Moon, would not be possible. The immediate utilisation of this capability would be required in the Chandrayaan-4 mission which is supposed to bring back samples from the Moon.
The fact that the ISRO is only the third or fourth space agency in the world to accomplish a certain feat is no longer a reason for surprise. In the last few years, it has firmly established itself as one of the leading space agencies of the world. From here on, it would be its failure that is unanticipated, not its success. Thanks to the spate of capabilities acquired and demonstrated by the agency in the last few years, India is comfortably placed in the top bracket of countries in terms of at least one of the technologies expected to reshape the global order in coming decades. Artificial Intelligence, quantum systems, clean energy are some of the other technologies that are likely to decide a country’s fate and well-being in the immediate future. Unlike space, however, the gap between India’s capabilities and the front-runners in these technology domains is significantly large.
