Strengthens India's role as a global leader in space, says Amit Shah on SpaDeX mission success

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday lauded the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for successfully launching the Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) mission.

The mission was launched on Monday at 10 p.m. The PSLV C60 rocket carrying two small satellites, SDX01 (Chaser) and SDX02 (Target), along with 24 payloads, lifted off from the first launchpad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. About 15 minutes after liftoff, the two small spacecraft weighing about 220 kg each were launched into a 475-km circular orbit as intended.

Commending on the feat, the Home Minister said this was a grand success and opened a new path for the country's space docking technology.

He wrote on X, "Bharat paces to become the fourth nation to master space docking. Kudos to Team@isro on the successful launch of #SpaDeX Mission. This is a grand success that opens a new path for Bharat in space docking technology and strengthens its role as a global leader in space. All my best wishes to our geniuses for the journey ahead."

India is now the fourth country, after the US, Russia, and China, to master the docking technology.

"India becomes the fourth to join the select league of nations to seek Space docking, through its own indigenously developed ‘Bharatiya Docking System’," said Union Minister Jitendra Singh on X.

The technology will “pave the way for journey beyond the kies for “Gaganyaan” and “Bharatiya Antriksha Station”, Singh said.

SpaDeX (Space Docking Experiment) is a pioneering mission to establish India's capability in orbital docking, a key technology for future human spaceflight and satellite servicing missions, ISRO said. The PSLV lifted off with two small spacecraft -- SDX01, the chaser, and SDX02, the Target -- weighing about 220 kg each.

The satellites merged or joined for docking in a low-Earth circular orbit. ISRO is to wait for four days for docking orientation to evaluate the software process The Bharatiya Docking System includes a docking mechanism, a suite of four rendezvous and docking sensors, power transfer technology, an Indigenous novel autonomous rendezvous and docking strategy, and an inter-satellite communication link (ISL) for autonomous communication between spacecraft, incorporated with inbuilt intelligence to know the states of the other spacecraft, among others.

Mastering the space docking technology may not only propel India into the elite club of spacefaring nations. It is also key for India'simpending space missions including the Moon mission, setting up the Indian space station, and lunar missions like Chandrayaan-4 without the support of GNSS from Earth.

According to ISRO, it will also demonstrate the transfer of electric power between the docked spacecraft, which is essential for future applications such as in-space robotics -- composite spacecraft control, and payload operations after undocking. SpaDEX will also use PSLV's fourth stage, POEM-4, for experiments. The stage also carries 24 payloads from academic institutions and startups.