New Delhi, Jan 16: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the successful docking of the satellites of the SpaDEX mission is a significant stepping stone for India’s ambitious space missions in the years to come.

India became the fourth nation to ace the space docking technology, after the US, Russia, and China, as the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) informed the merging of two small spacecraft — SDX01, the Chaser, and SDX02, the Target — weighing about 220 kg each.

“Congratulations to our scientists at @isro and the entire space fraternity for the successful demonstration of space docking of satellites,” PM Modi said in a post on X social media platform.

“It is a significant stepping stone for India’s ambitious space missions in the years to come,” he added.

The satellites were part of the Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) mission, which lifted off aboard the PSLV-C60 rocket, from Sriharikota on December 30.

“Docking successfully completed. India became the 4th country to achieve successful Space Docking. Congratulations to the entire team! Congratulations to India!” ISRO posted.

Dr V. Narayanan, Secretary DOS, Chairman of Space Commission, and Chairman ISRO, congratulated the team ISRO.

On Sunday, the two satellites came as close as three metres in a trial attempt for space docking up to 15 m. It later moved back to a safe distance.

But now, “manoeuvre from 15m to 3m hold point completed”, ISRO said while noting that the docking was achieved “with precision, leading to successful spacecraft capture”.

The docking technology was indigenously developed and has been named the ‘Bharatiya Docking System’.

The SpaDeX mission will help establish India’s capability in orbital docking — a key technology for future human spaceflight and satellite servicing missions. The docking technology is also key for India’s impending space missions including the Moon mission, setting up the Indian space station, and lunar missions like Chandrayaan-4 without the support of GNSS from Earth.

New Delhi, Jan 16: Driven by the growing use of Indic languages for digital content, the internet user base in India is set to surpass 900 million by 2025, driven by the growing use of Indic languages for digital content, a report showed on Thursday.

The number of active internet users in India reached 886 million in 2024, marking a robust 8 per cent year-on-year growth. Rural India, with 488 million users, leads this growth and now accounts for 55 per cent of the total internet population, according to the report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Kantar.

Nearly all internet users (98 per cent) accessed content in Indic languages, with Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam emerging as the most popular due to their extensive availability.

Over half (57 per cent) of urban internet users prefer consuming content in regional languages, underscoring the growing demand for local language content across platforms, according to the report.

AI has emerged as a significant game changer over the past year. Nine out of 10 internet users have interacted with apps featuring embedded AI capabilities.

“The widespread acceptance and enthusiasm surrounding AI should encourage digital companies to introduce more next-generation AI features in India,” Biswapriya Bhattacharya, Director, B2B and Technology, Kantar Insights–South Asia, said.

The digital gender gap in India is steadily narrowing, with 47 per cent of all internet users in the country being women — so far the highest.

Female internet users now form a significant portion of shared device users in rural India at 58 per cent. This marks substantial progress in making digital access more inclusive and equitable over the years, the report noted.

Rural India dominates online engagement for top activities, including OTT video and music streaming, online communication, and social media usage, outpacing urban users in these categories.

Urban India leads in the adoption of non-traditional devices such as smart TVs and smart speakers, which have grown by 54 per cent between 2023 and 2024.

Concurrently, mobile devices remain the primary means of accessing the internet across both urban and rural demographics, said the report.

New Delhi, Jan 16: With the successful docking of the satellites of the SpaDEX mission, India became the fourth nation to ace the space docking technology, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Thursday.

ISRO informed the merging of two small spacecraft — SDX01, the Chaser, and SDX02, the Target — weighing about 220 kg each.

The satellites were part of the Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) mission, which lifted off aboard the PSLV-C60 rocket, from Sriharikota on December 30.

India is now the fourth country, after the US, Russia, and China, to master the docking technology. “Docking Success Spacecraft docking successfully completed! A historic moment,” ISRO shared in a post on social media platform X.

“Docking successfully completed. India became the 4th country to achieve successful Space Docking. Congratulations to the entire team! Congratulations to India!” it added.

Dr. V. Narayanan, Secretary DOS, Chairman of Space Commission, and Chairman ISRO, congratulated the team ISRO.

On Sunday, the two satellites came as close as three metres in a trial attempt for space docking up to 15 m. It later moved back to a safe distance.

But now, “manoeuvre from 15m to 3m hold point completed,” ISRO said while noting that the docking was achieved “with precision, leading to successful spacecraft capture”.

“Retraction completed smoothly, followed by rigidisation for stability”.

The docking technology was indigenously developed and has been named the ‘Bharatiya Docking System’.

It includes a docking mechanism, a suite of four rendezvous and docking sensors, power transfer technology, indigenous novel autonomous rendezvous and docking strategy, and an inter-satellite communication link (ISL) for autonomous communication between spacecraft, incorporated with inbuilt intelligence to know the states of the other spacecraft, among others.

ISRO believes the SpaDeX mission will help establish India’s capability in orbital docking — a key technology for future human spaceflight and satellite servicing missions.

In addition to joining the elite club of spacefaring nations, docking technology is also key for India’s impending space missions including the Moon mission, setting up the Indian space station, and lunar missions like Chandrayaan-4 without the support of GNSS from Earth.

According to ISRO, it will also demonstrate the transfer of electric power between the docked spacecraft, which is essential for future applications such as in-space robotics — composite spacecraft control, and payload operations after undocking.