CHENNAI: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is likely to conduct the much-awaited Space Docking Experiment (SPADEX) on December 26, sources said on Thursday. ISRO Chairman S Somanath, soon after the successful launch of European Space Agency’s (ESA) Proba-3 mission on Thursday, said the next launch would be PSLV-C60 which will demonstrate SPADEX.
“The rocket is ready now and we are waiting for the final phase of testing and activities,” he said. The mission is to demonstrate India’s capability to autonomously dock two spacecraft in orbit, a complex procedure mastered by only a few nations, including the United States, Russia, and China. This experiment is crucial for ISRO’s ambitions in interplanetary missions, human spaceflight, and the establishment of the space station.
It will involve two 400-kg satellites, named Chaser and Target, developed in collaboration with a private firm. These satellites will be launched aboard a PSLV rocket and are designed to dock at an altitude of about 700 kilometers. According to KV Sriram, Director of ISRO Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems (LEOS), the satellites will execute a series of maneuvers to achieve docking autonomously. The experiment will validate key technologies required for future missions, such as refuelling, repair, and crew exchange in orbit.
SPADEX will also carry several scientific payloads, further enriching the mission’s objectives. Mastering space docking is essential for complex operations like interplanetary exploration, sample collection from celestial bodies, and the maintenance of space habitats. Meanwhile, Thursday’s Proba-3 launch had increased the reliability of India’s workhorse PSLV rocket in front of global client base as this was for the first time it had placed a satellite in such a highly elliptical orbit with an apogee of nearly 60,500 km.
Somanath said India also has a special interest in Proba-3 since it was a mission which is looking at heliophysics and there is a strong science group within India who are working closely with ESA. He said ISRO’s Aditya-L1 satellite and Proba-3 combined can give wonderful science results in days to come. Europe’s Proba-3 will produce artificial solar eclipses by casting a controlled shadow from the Occulter onto the Coronagraph, the two precision flying satellites placed in the orbit by PSLV rocket. This setup will allow six-hour-long studies of the Sun’s corona, filling critical observational gaps and enabling the study of phenomena like Coronal Mass Ejections and the solar wind’s outward acceleration.