BENGALURU: India's SpaDeX mission, which will dock satellites in space, is in its final stages. The third attempt at docking satellites in Earth's orbit is close to success. A trial attempt to reach up to 15 metres and further to 3 m is done. The officials said that the next mission will be held after studying the data again. If the experiment is completely successful, it will be a historic achievement for India and ISRO. If so, India will become the fourth country to perform space docking. The docking technology was developed by India itself. It has also been patented under the name Bharatiya Docking System.
The satellites are controlled from ISRO's Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network in Bengaluru. Reports said communication between the satellites was also carried out. ISRO also released the images of the closest approach between the satellites.
The experiment was initially planned to be conducted on January 9, but it was postponed at the last minute. The test was postponed due to the rapid increase in the speed of reducing the distance between the satellites.
The two satellites, Chaser and Target, weighing 220 kilograms each, orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 476 kilometers, are being joined. Both satellites were launched on December 30 for the docking test. The two satellites are being joined at a speed of 36 times that of an airplane (28,800 kilometers per hour). This is the main challenge of the mission.