By R Anil Kumar
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ISRO is set to resume their SpaDeX mission (undocking, power transfer demo, etc.) starting March 15. The Space Agency is currently in the midst of conducting simulations of the undocking and redocking process. Due to SpaDeX’s inclined orbit, ISRO only gets a 10-15 day window once every 2 months to conduct experiments
Bengaluru. ISRO plans to resume experiments on the SpaDeX mission starting from March 15, 2025. These experiments will involve the separation and re-docking of the two satellites, SDX01 and SDX02, which were successfully docked on January 16, 2025.
The SpaDeX mission was launched on Dec 30 last year when it placed in orbit two satellites – SDX01 and SDX02 – to demonstrate the docking experiment in space.
Though, the undocking process has faced delays due to technical issues, including power generation and composite control challenges, despite these challenges, ISRO aims to master docking technologies crucial for future projects like Chandrayaan-4 and the Bharat Antariksha Station.
While the undocking is part of the mission’s objectives, the specific start date for undocking is not explicitly confirmed for March 15. Instead, ISRO has mentioned that the window for conducting experiments, including undocking, will be available from mid-March.
“Currently, the unified satellite is in an elliptical orbit. So, we get a 10-15 days window once in two months to conduct various experiments,” ISRO Chairman V Narayanan said on the sidelines of the National Science Day celebrations here.
He said the window for carrying out experiments on the SpaDeX satellites will be available from March 15.
“Right now, we are doing simulation experiments for separation of satellites and re-docking them. We have charted out a plan and will start the actual experiments from March 15,” Narayanan said.
“We want to do multiple experiments. There is a lot of propellant onboard. We also have experiments lined up for the third slot that would be available after two months,” Narayanan further added.
The mission’s progress and future plans indicate that ISRO is taking a cautious approach to ensure successful completion of all experiments.
