ISRO Delays SpaDeX Mission Launch: Space Docking Experiment Postponed by Two Minutes

In its latest update, India’s space research agency has postponed the launching of highly anticipated SpaDeX (Space Docking Experiment) mission for two minutes. Scheduled for 9:58 pm yesterday night from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, PSLV-C60 was to carry two small-sized spacecraft. However, on Monday night at 10 pm, this launch will carry two small-sized spacecraft onboard.

The SpaDeX mission is of prime importance as it is aimed to demonstrate India’s capability in space docking technology. In case of success, India will join an elite group of nations that have already completed a space docking experiment—the USA, Russia, and China. This is a very crucial step toward India’s ambitious future space missions, including Chandrayaan-4, the Indian Space Station, and the nation’s dream of sending humans to the Moon.

Delaying Factors

ISRO Chairman Dr. S Somanath says the SpaDeX mission has been delayed because of “conjunctions with other satellites in the same orbit.” This is a precautionary measure to avoid possible interference by other objects in space, which are mostly satellites from the Starlink constellation. SpaceX’s Starlink is owned by Elon Musk; it has currently around 7,000 satellites in the low Earth orbit, and their number is likely to increase to about 12,000 in the near future. This is not the first time ISRO has faced congestion-related issues in space. The Chandrayaan-3 mission launch was also delayed in 2023 for similar reasons, and the issue has been growing in terms of space traffic and debris. Experts have long warned that these large satellite constellations could lead to traffic jams in space, complicating the launch of future missions.

SpaDeX Mission: A Step Towards India’s Space Future

The PSLV-C60 rocket shall launch the SpaDeX mission with two small space crafts: ‘Chaser’ and ‘Target’ to be placed in a circular orbit at an altitude of 476 km. The goal of the mission is to exhibit the demonstration of docking as well as undocking between the spacecraft, along with control as well as payload operations. The docking experiment is expected to happen in the first week of January 2024.

Docking is the joining of two spacecraft in space, while undocking is their separation. After these experiments, the two spacecraft will orbit Earth for two years. The Chaser spacecraft, SDX 01, carries a high-resolution camera, while the Target spacecraft, SDX 02, carries two payloads to capture high-resolution images and monitor natural resources.

This technological advancement will put India in the list of nations that are leading in space exploration and will pave the way for future deep space missions. “This mission will place India among the nations that have mastered space docking technology. This technology is crucial for India’s ambitious missions, such as bringing samples from the Moon and building the Indian Space Station (BAS),” said Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of Science and Technology.

Preparing for this crucial launch, the successful completion of the SpaDeX mission would indeed be a major achievement for India in space technology, creating grounds for further space exploration efforts and paving the way for the country to stand firmly in the international space race.