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ISRO’s journey for docking happen. The mission was
capability started with the planned with multiple waypoints
SPADEX mission. It was conceived where the spacecrafts were held
as a foundational demonstration together at a priori determined
with an objective to progressively distances. During the final phase,
build space docking capability. the spacecrafts are brought
The demonstration required further close to each other after
meticulous mission planning being captured and then finally
and development of a host form the composite spacecraft.
of technologies and multiple Various challenges were faced
associated challenges. in each phase of the docking,
SPADEX spacecrafts named and each of the issues was
Spacecraft-A (SDX-01) and meticulously addressed, and the
Spacecraft-B (SDX-02), each spacecraft were successfully
with a mass of approximately docked on January 16th, 2025.
220 kg, were launched from India, thus, became one among
First Launch Pad, Sriharikota, by a few countries to demonstrate
PSLV to a precise orbit of 475 km this complex technology.
altitude at 55-degree inclination The successful
on December 30th, 2024. demonstration of the in-
The key pillars to accomplish space docking experiment is
the docking are accurate a forerunner for autonomous
navigation, advanced sensors docking and crucial for India’s
and guidance system, and the future missions for assembling
docking system. Together these modules of space stations for
systems would ensure that BAS, for transporting crew and
the spacecrafts are perfectly supplies to these stations, and
aligned and measure distances for Chandrayaan-4 for bringing
in real time for docking to the samples back to Earth orbit,
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