The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday announced the undocking of its two satellites as part of the SpaDeX mission - SDX01 and SDX02 - after nearly two months.
The docking of the two satellites, after three unsuccessful attempts, happened on January 16, 2025. The research organisation took to social media platform X to announce the news. ISRO also released videos showing how the undocking of the two satellites happened and how they were functioning.
ISRO Chairman V Narayanan told The New Indian Express that it is a proud moment for us as the undocking has happened in its first attempt. He admitted that there were some technical glitches due to which earlier attempts were made before the docking was done. But the undocking happened in its very first attempt.
Now, the working of the two satellites will be studied, they will be photographed by each of the satellites, and their operations will be monitored.
“We carried out systematic experiments before undocking. We will be carrying out further experiments post-docking. The aim of the experiment is not to just dock and undock, but future missions - Chandrayaan-4, setting up of Bharatiya Antariksh Mission, and Man on the Moon mission - for all this, docking and undocking of the two satellites is just the beginning. The aim of ISRO is to hold the leader position in the space research sector, so time is not a constraint. We want to excel in the working,” Narayanan said.
The Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) mission was launched on December 30, 2024, from Sriharikota on the PSLV-C60. The two satellites, weighing 220 kg each, were launched into the 470 km circular orbit at a 55-degree inclination with a local time cycle of 66 days. The mission cost Rs 370 crore.
According to ISRO, while the docking was done at 1:00:04 on Thursday, the scientists took their time to analyse the data and confirm the news with images and videos before making it public. At 10:04 am, ISRO, on its X platform, posted that the docking had been completed successfully. ISRO announced the undocking at 12:21 pm.
It may be recollected that initially, the docking was to take place on January 7, but then it was postponed to January 9, as the distance between the two satellites was 500 metres and 225 metres. Later, the two satellites, also called the Target and Chaser, were brought as close as 3 metres and were then separated to a safer distance again by the teams.