India-Pakistan tensions; ISRO preparing India for Space war? 'Dogfight' mission successful

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: India has reportedly tested its space warfare strategy amid the possibility of a clash with Pakistan. The chaser-target satellites launched for the SpaDeX project were used to conduct a dogfight, the first step in a space war. ISRO has not confirmed this.

A dogfight in space is when an enemy country's satellites are interrupted and its communication systems are completely disrupted. Three months ago, the United States had accused China of testing a dogfight in space and severely criticized it.

ISRO launched the chaser and target satellites on December 30, 2024, to conduct experiments on docking and later undocking satellites in space. It was successfully accomplished. ISRO conducted those experiments as a prelude to establishing its own space station.

The SPEDEX satellites, Chaser and Target, are moving at a speed of 28,800 km per hour at an altitude of 500 km above the Earth. This is 28 times faster than a jet plane. The dogfight was conducted during this time.

Each satellite had about five kilograms of fuel for the mission. ISRO said that more tests are being conducted with more than two and a half kilograms of fuel remaining.

“The tests are being conducted, including the transfer of electricity and heat energy between the satellites. Dogfight is not included in the SPEDEX mission.”

- ISRO

Ability to immobilize enemy country

• A country's navigation systems and mobile phones are controlled via satellite. Satellite phones and missiles, which are essential during wars, rely on satellites. Everything will be disrupted if the satellite's orbit is slightly deviated or the waves are deactivated. That is why it is considered a future war machine.

• ISRO conducted experiments by rapidly increasing and decreasing inter-satellite distance, bringing them as close as just three meters creating a possibility for them to collide with each other at high speed, sending out heat waves, and transmitting electricity.

• A dogfight is a battle between fighter jets in the sky. The same word is used here because it is conducted using satellites in space instead of fighter jets.