Two Indian satellites came as close as three metres in a trial attempt for space docking and are now moving back, the Indian space agency said this morning.
“A trial attempt to reach up to 15 m and further to 3 m is done. Moving back spacecrafts to safe distance. The docking process will be done after analysing data further,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in its latest update.
The Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) mission involves complex technologies and to and fro manoeveures are being done to achieve what the ISRO has described as an “exciting handshake” of the two satellites in space.
The two satellites, SDX01 (Chaser) and SDX02 (Target), were 230 metres apart last night when the ISRO said its sensors were being evaluated and that their health was normal.
The SpaDeX mission was launched on December 30 with a PSLV C60 rocket lifting off with the two satellites from Sriharikota and placing into a 475-kilometre circular orbit.
ISRO had postponed historic docking of the two satellites’ twice with its chief Dr S Somnath saying that it was India’s first attempt at docking and every first attempt has its own challenges.
With this mission, India is set to become the fourth nation to achieve the feat that will help the country in its future space explorations such as the Bharatiya Antariksh Station.