Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh announced on Monday that ISRO’s SpaDEX mission has successfully achieved its second satellite docking.
Sharing the news on social media platform X, the minister said, “Glad to inform that the second docking of satellites has been accomplished successfully.”
He also recalled the progress of the mission, stating, “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.”
Dr. Singh further mentioned that more experiments are planned over the next two weeks.
The successful docking of the SpaDEX satellites in January made India the fourth country in the world to achieve satellite docking in space, joining the ranks of the US, Russia, and China.
The mission involved the docking of two small spacecraft — SDX01 (the Chaser) and SDX02 (the Target) — each weighing around 220 kg. These satellites were launched aboard the PSLV-C60 rocket from Sriharikota on December 30, 2024.
The docking technology, indigenously developed by ISRO, is known as the Bharatiya Docking System. It includes a docking mechanism, a suite of four rendezvous and docking sensors, power transfer capability, an inter-satellite communication link (ISL), and a unique autonomous docking strategy with built-in intelligence that allows each spacecraft to understand the state of the other.
According to ISRO, the SpaDEX mission is a major step toward building India’s capabilities in orbital docking — a crucial technology for future human spaceflight, satellite servicing missions, and establishing a space station.
This technology will also be essential for India’s upcoming missions, such as future lunar expeditions like Chandrayaan-4, and for conducting operations without relying on Earth-based navigation systems like GNSS.
—IANS
