India Becomes Fourth Country To Achieve Satellite Docking In Space With ISRO's SpaDeX Mission— All About It

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully achieved satellite docking as part of its Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX), the space agency said in a post on X.

"Manoeuvre from 15m to 3m hold point completed. Docking initiated with precision, leading to successful spacecraft capture. Retraction completed smoothly, followed by rigidisation for stability. Docking successfully completed," ISRO said in the post.

With this milestone, India becomes the fourth nation globally to accomplish successful space docking.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh congratulated the Indian space agency for achieving the feat.

"Congrats ISRO. Finally made it. SPADEX has accomplished the unbelievable… docking complete… and it is all indigenous “Bharatiya Docking System”. This paves the way for smooth conduct of ambitious future missions including the Bharatiya Antriksha Station, Chandrayaan 4 & Gaganyaan. PM Narendra Modi’s continuous patronage keeps the spirits soaring… here at Bengaluru," he said.

The successful docking follows a preparatory trial conducted on 12 January, during which ISRO manoeuvered the spacecraft to within three meters of each other before repositioning them to a safe distance.

Earlier attempts at docking on 7 and 9 January were postponed

Launched on 30 December 2024, the SpaDeX mission utilised the PSLV C60 rocket to carry two small satellites, SDX01 (Chaser) and SDX02 (Target), alongside 24 additional payloads.

The PSLV C60 successfully deployed the spacecraft into a 475-kilometer circular orbit roughly 15 minutes after its liftoff from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Each satellite weighs approximately 220 kilograms.

According to ISRO, the SpaDeX project serves as a cost-efficient technology demonstrator designed to highlight the feasibility of in-space docking with small satellites.

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