The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) confirmed the successful undocking of their Space Docking Experiment - SpaDex, today, setting the stage for future missions such as Chandrayaan-4 and more.
In a post on X, ISRO elaborated on the sequence of events that led to the successful experiment, starting with an SDX-2 extension, capture lever 3 being released as planned, the capture lever in SDX-2 being disengaged and the de-capture command being issued for both satellites.
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Union minister of science and technology, Dr Jitendra Singh also took to X to praise the team, saying, “Congrats team ISRO. And heartening for every Indian! SPADEX Satellites accomplished the unbelievable De-Docking."
The minister added, "This paves the way for smooth conduct of ambitious future missions including the Bharatiya Antriksha Station, Chandrayaan 4 & Gaganyaan. PM Narendra Modi's continuous patronage keeps the spirits soaring.”
The Space Docking Experiment mission was launched on December 30, 2024 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Two satellites SDX01 and SDX02, also known as Chaser and Target, were docked on January 16.
India is the fourth country in the world to achieve successful space docking after the United States, Russia, and China.
{{/usCountry}}India is the fourth country in the world to achieve successful space docking after the United States, Russia, and China.
{{/usCountry}}ISRO chairman V Narayanan had told news agency PTI earlier that further experiments with the space docking mission would be conducted March 15 onwards.
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"We have charted out a plan and will start the actual experiments from March 15," Narayanan said.
“Currently, the unified satellite is in an elliptical orbit. So, we get a 10-15 days window once in two months to conduct various experiments,” he added.
According to ISRO, the SpaDeX mission is a cost-effective mission which aims at demonstrating space docking using two small spacecraft launched by a PSLV rocket. This technology is useful in the case of multiple rocket launches taking place which are required to achieve a common objective.