Undocking of the two satellites on March 13, 2025. The first docking took place on January 16, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully executed the second docking of the two satellites, which are part of the Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) mission.
On April 21, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh posted on social media the second docking of the satellites SDX01 (Chaser) and SDX02 (Target).
“#ISRO SPADEX Update: Glad to inform that the second docking of satellites has been accomplished successfully. As informed earlier, the PSLV-C60 / SPADEX mission was successfully launched on 30 December 2024. Thereafter the satellites were successfully docked for the first time on 16 January 2025 at 06:20 AM and successfully undocked on 13 March 2025 at 09:20 AM. Further experiments are planned in the next two weeks,” the Minister posted on X.
Earlier this year, India became the fourth country after the U.S., Russia and China to conduct the docking experiment.
The SpaDeX mission is an important project by ISRO. It is designed to develop and demonstrate the technology needed for spacecraft rendezvous, docking and undocking using two small satellites.
The demonstration of this technology is essential for future missions, such as sending an Indian astronaut to the Moon, returning samples from the Moon, and the building and operation of the Indian Space Station.
The other objectives of the mission include demonstration of 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.
Published – April 21, 2025 11:38 am IST