The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has completed the second docking operation of its experimental SpaDeX mission, marking yet another milestone in the country's march towards advanced in-orbit servicing capabilities.
Announcing the development on Monday, Union Minister for Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh posted on social media platform X, stating that the second docking of satellites under the PSLV-C60/SpaDeX mission had been accomplished.
The SpaDeX (Space Docking Experiment) mission was launched on 30 December 2024, with ISRO deploying two satellites—SDX01 and SDX02—to conduct India's first space docking trial. The first docking was executed on 16 January 2025 at 6.20 a.m., followed by a successful undocking on 13 March 2025 at 9.20 a.m.
“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 noted in his post.
According to ISRO, the undocking was carried out in a 460-km circular orbit with a 45-degree inclination, and the satellites were now orbiting independently with all onboard systems functioning normally.
The space agency confirmed that the docking, undocking and redocking phases had all been conducted successfully, completing the core objectives of the SpaDeX programme.
ISRO described the operation as a demonstration of “all capabilities required for rendezvous, docking and undocking operations in a circular orbit.”
“On January 16, we had a major achievement; we successfully docked both the satellites together, and it was rotating as a single body. Then, we wanted to separate it out, the undocking process, for that we carried out a lot of studies and analysis and we made a simulator and carried out 120 simulations, as there should not be any mistakes. On 13th March, at 9:20 am, in the first attempt itself, we succeeded in the undocking process," ISRO Chairman Dr V Narayanan said, reflecting on the achievement.
Dr Narayanan also addressed the broader implications of the SpaDeX success for future manned space missions.
“We learn lessons from all small setbacks of us and others. This is a very complex technology, so we learn. Whatever setbacks are there, we are taking care of them, and we are quite confident in the type of effort that is put. The type of dedication of Indian scientists is something else,” he added.
The SpaDeX mission represents a critical step in India's ambition to develop technologies necessary for on-orbit satellite servicing, refuelling, and assembly, and potentially for future human spaceflight programmes.
The experiment has been lauded for being entirely designed and executed indigenously, including the development of relative navigation algorithms, guidance strategies, hardware-in-the-loop simulations, and ground support systems for docking.
With further trials planned in the coming weeks, ISRO continues to move steadily towards mastering autonomous space operations, a domain so far dominated by only a handful of global space agencies.
Also read: ISRO successfully undocks SpaDeX satellites in space
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