ISRO achieves docking of SpaDeX satellites for second time

Representation pic

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully performed the second docking of satellites as part of its Spadex missions, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Monday. He said more experiments are planned in the next two weeks. "Glad to inform that the second docking of satellites has been accomplished successfully," Singh, the minister of state for science and technology, atomic energy and space, said in a post on 'X'.

He recalled that the PSLV-C60/Space Docking Experiment (SPADEX) mission was launched on December 30, 2024. Thereafter satellites were successfully docked for the first time on January 16 and successfully undocked on March 13, the minister said.

"Further experiments are planned in the next two weeks," Singh added. Later, in a statement, ISRO said the docking experiment of the SPADEX satellites (SDX-01 and SDX-02) for the second time was successfully carried out on April 20 at 08.20 pm. "Subsequently, power transfer from SDX-02 to SDX-01 satellite as well as vice versa was also exercised and accomplished on April 21. The experiment involved operating a heater element in one of the satellites through power from the other satellite," it said.

The space agency said the duration of power transfer was approximately four minutes and the performance of the satellites was as expected. "In the second attempt, docking was completed with full autonomy from an inter-satellite distance of 15 metres till docking. In the first docking attempt, an additional hold point was manually exercised at an inter-satellite distance of 3 metres," the statement read.

The second docking experiment was preceded by detailed ground simulations and on-orbit trials incorporating the experience gained from the first docking and undocking experiments, thereby providing immense confidence for the second docking demonstration, it said. "The demonstration of the fully autonomous second docking along with power transfer marks the completion of an important milestone in the SPADEX mission," the space agency added.

According to ISRO, the SpaDeX mission is a cost-effective technology demonstrator mission for in-space docking using two small spacecraft that were launched by PSLV. In space, docking is essential when multiple rocket launches are required to achieve common mission objectives. This experiment is crucial for ISRO's future missions, such as the Bharatiya Antariksh Station and the landing of an astronaut on the Moon.

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