India’s space docking capabilities marked another milestone with the successful completion of the second docking of the Spadex satellites, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh announced on Sunday. Taking to social media platform X (previously Twitter), Singh wrote, “SPADEX Update: Glad to inform that the second docking of satellites has been accomplished successfully.”
"The space-based docking experiment (SPADEX) mission was launched aboard the PSLV-C60 on 30 December 2024. The satellites involved in the mission first docked successfully on 16 January 2025 at 6:20 AM and later undocked on 13 March 2025 at 9:20 AM," he added. According to Singh, further experiments under the mission are scheduled to take place in the next two weeks.
Earlier on March 13, ISRO said it had successfully completed the space de-docking for its SpaDeX mission. This is an important step towards enabling spacecraft to dock on their own, which will be essential for future lunar missions like Chandrayaan-4 without relying on navigation support from Earth.
The SPADEX mission is a significant step for ISRO as it aims to demonstrate autonomous rendezvous and docking in space — a key capability for future crewed space missions, satellite servicing, and space station operations.