Chennai, Apr 21 (UNI) Marking completion of an important milestone in the SPADEX
mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Monday night said it has
successfully demonstrated the docking of the two SPADEX satellites (SDX 01 and
SDX 02) for the second time.
The second docking was demonstrated on April 20, 2025 (Sunday night) at 08:20 PM.
In an update tonight hours after Union Minister Jitendra Singh earlier in the day confirmed
the latest achievement, ISRO said subsequently, power transfer from SDX 02 to SDX 01
satellite as well as vice versa was also exercised and accomplished on 21st April, 2025
(today).
The experiment involved operating a heater element in one of the satellites through power
from the other satellite.
The duration of power transfer was approximately four minutes and the performance of the
satellites was as expected.
In the second docking attempt, the docking was completed with full autonomy from an
inter-satellite distance of 15m till docking, whereas in the first docking attempt, an
additional hold point was manually exercised at an inter-satellite distance of 3m.
The second docking experiment was preceded by detailed ground simulations and
on-orbit trials incorporating the experience gained from first docking and undocking
experiments, thereby providing immense confidence for the second docking
demonstration.
The demonstration of the fully autonomous second docking along with power transfer
marks the completion of an important milestone in the SPADEX mission.
UNI GV 2330