States » SouthPosted at: Oct 24 2026 12:48PM


Two SPADEX Satellites re-enters Earth's Atmosphere : ISRO

Chennai, Oct 24 (UNI) In a major accomplishment, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Saturday announced that the
Two Space Docking Experiment (SPADEX) Satellites launched in December 2024, have successfully demonstrated critical autonomous rendezvous and low-impact docking technologies and rentered the Earth's atmosphere.
Right through the mission, both the spacecraft successfully accomplished all the core objectives including vertical and radial docking, composite control, power transfer, undocking, and payload operations. Further circumnavigation was also demonstrated successfully, it said.
In an update, the Space Agency said after the fuel was exhausted in both the satellites--SPADEX-A and SPADEX-B. Their orbits decayed progressively, leading to their eventual atmospheric re-entry on October 12, 2026. Two moderate geomagnetic storms on October 4 and 11 accelerated the orbital decay.
ISRO said "it achieved a historic milestone with the successful launch of the Space Docking Experiment (SPADEX) onboard PSLV-C60 mission in 470 km circular orbit of 550 inclination on December 30, 2024. The mission demonstrated critical autonomous rendezvous and low-impact docking technologies using the two satellites, SPADEX-A and SPADEX-B. Throughout the mission, both spacecraft successfully accomplished all core objectives including vertical and radial docking, composite control, power transfer, undocking, and payload operations. Further circumnavigation was also demonstrated successfully."
"Post operational phase, the fuel was exhausted in both the satellites, their orbits decayed progressively, leading to their eventual atmospheric re-entry on October 12, 2026. Two moderate geomagnetic storms on 4th and 11th October 2026 accelerated the orbital decay", ISRO said.
Meticulous mission management and operations ensured that both the spacecraft remained healthy until the reception of final telemetry frames, it added.
The impact point of SPADEX-A was over South Pacific Ocean around 16:48 UTC, on October 12, 2026. The final impact of SPADEX-B was over the North Atlantic Ocean around 23:36 UTC, on October 12, 2026 after re-entry to Earth's atmosphere.
SpaDeX mission is a cost-effective technology demonstrator mission for the demonstration of in-space docking using two small spacecraft launched by PSLV. This technology is essential for India's space ambitions such as Indian on Moon, sample return from the Moon, the building and operation of Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS), etc. In-space docking technology is essential when multiple rocket launches are required to achieve common mission objectives. Through this mission, India is became the fourth country in the world to have space docking technology.
The primary objective of the SpaDeX mission is to develop and demonstrate the technology needed for rendezvous, docking, and undocking of two small spacecraft (SDX01, which is the Chaser, and SDX02, the Target, nominally) in a low-Earth circular orbit.
The Secondary objectives were demonstration of 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.
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