On Monday (April 21), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced that it had carried out its second satellite docking exercise under the SpaDeX (Space Docking Experiment) mission, according to ANI.

The activity was described as a significant technological achievement, and confirmed India's credentials as the fourth country to demonstrate in-space docking capability behind the United States, Russia and China.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh confirmed the development, stating on X, “Glad to inform that the second docking of satellites has been accomplished successfully.”

The SpaDeX mission was launched on December 30, 2024, on the PSLV-C60 vehicle from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The mission involved two small satellites - SDX-01 (Chaser) and SDX-02 (Target).

The satellites were engineered for complex docking and undocking operations to duplicate in-space manoeuvres necessary for operations in future programmes such as satellite servicing, space stations and interplanetary exploration missions.

The first docking and undocking were successfully performed on January 16, 2025 at 06.20, while the undocking was made on March 13, 2025 at 09.20, although ISRO provided details on the correct "docking/de-docking process of the plasma source." The decrask sequence of events covered the "successful extension of SDX-2, the planned release of Capture Lever 3," and concluded with the "decapture command" that was given to both satellites.

According to ISRO, this technology is important to servicing satellites when multiple rocket launches are needed to achieve common mission objectives as is the case with returning lunar soil samples and building the Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS).

With help from VSSC, LPSC, SAC, IISU and LEOS, the UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) is the principal at control of the SpaDeX mission which aims to deliver a low-cost, high-impact demonstration of India's capability of in-orbit complex operations.

ISRO has reported that, "further experiments are to be performed in the next two weeks", to further validate the robustness and accuracy of the docking mechanism.

ISRO's SpaDeX mission demonstrates India's capacity to achieve in-space rendezvous, docking, and undocking operations. These are important capabilities for satellite (de)servicing, to serve as a technology demonstration for space station operations, or to identify potential technologies for future interplanetary missions.