“India docked its name in space history! Good Morning India ISRO’s SpaDeX mission accomplishes historic docking success. Proud to witness this moment!”, ISRO said in a post on ‘X’.
The historic moment came just days after the space agency, on January 12, brought the two spacecraft to three metres and then placed them back at a safe distance in its trial attempt to dock the satellites.
The Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) mission was successfully launched on December 30, 2024.
ISRO shared the docking process of the SpaDeX satellites in a post on X and said that it begins with the completion of a manoeuvre from 15m to 3m hold point.
Then docking is initiated with precision, leading to a successful spacecraft capture. “Retraction completed smoothly, followed by rigidisation for stability. Docking successfully completed,” it said.
Notably, after China, Russia, and the United States, India became the fourth nation to accomplish this successful space docking.
The space agency reported that two satellites were successfully controlled as a single entity after docking. In a mission update, it stated, “Undocking and power transfer checks to follow in coming days,”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also congratulated ISRO and the entire space fraternity for the mission’s success. “It is a significant stepping stone for India’s ambitious space missions in the years to come,” he said in a post on X.
The PSLV C60 rocket carrying two small satellites, SDX01 (Chaser) and SDX02 (Target), along with 24 payloads, had lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota.
Nearly 15 minutes after liftoff, the small spacecraft weighing about 220 kg each were launched into a 475km circular orbit, a PTI report said.
According to the national space agency, the SpaDeX mission is a cost-effective demonstrator mission to show in-space docking with the use of two small spacecraft that was launched by PSLV.
Docking technology is essential in space when multiple rocket launches are aimed at achieving common mission goals.
