The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) achieved a milestone on Monday after its Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) mission successfully achieved its second satellite docking. The announcement in this regard was made by Union Minister Jitendra Singh.
“Glad to inform that the second docking of satellites has been accomplished successfully,” Singh said in an X post.
Information about the progress of the mission, the union minister stated, “As informed earlier, the PSLV-C60 / SpaDEX mission was successfully launched on December 30, 2024. The first docking was successfully completed on January 16, 2025, at 6:20 AM, and the satellites were undocked on March 13, 2025, at 9:20 AM.”
“Further experiments are planned in the next two weeks,” he added.
Jitendra Singh's X Post:
In March this year, ISRO completed the de-docking of the SpaDex satellites. The manoeuvre paved the way for ISRO's future missions, including Chandrayaan-4 and Gaganyaan.
In January this year, ISRO docked two satellites of the SpceDex mission. With the January 16 manoeuvre, India became the fourth country after the United States, Russia and China to dock satellites in space.
About The Mission:
The space agency launched the mission on December 30. The PSLV C60 rocket, carrying two small satellites -- SDX01 (Chaser) and SDX02 (Target) -- along with 24 payloads, lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. About 15 minutes later, the two small spacecraft weighing about 220 kilograms each were launched into a 475-kilometre circular orbit, as intended.
The SpaDeX mission is a cost-effective technology demonstrator mission for the demonstration of in-space docking using two small spacecraft launched by PSLV.
