Sharing the latest update on its SpaDeX project, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said on Saturday that the two spacecraft involved in the mission were “normal”.

ISRO’s social media post read, “Arrested at Inter-satellite Distance (ISD) of 230 meters, all sensors are being evaluated. Spacecraft health is normal.”

On Friday, the Bangalore-based National Space Agency said the spacecraft were on “hold” mode and about 1.5 km away from each other.

“A further 500m rise plan will be achieved by tomorrow (Saturday) morning,” the post had noted.

More on the mission

Under the SpaDeX mission, launched on December 30 last year, ISRO will try to “dock” (join) two spacecraft, named “SDX01” (Chaser) and “SDX02” (Target).

The ambitious experiment will pave the way for India’s future space missions, such as Chandrayaan-4, Gaganyaan and the proposed Bharatiya Space Station, among others.

Docking, a complex procedure, has only been achieved by the US, Russia and China.

However, after launching the SpaDeX mission, ISRO was forced to postpone the docking twice. On January 6, the date originally scheduled for the launch, it was postponed to January 9 when ISRO found that the docking process could not be carried out by ground simulations based on the “abortion” scenario identified that day. Further verification will be required through

Then, on January 8, there was the experiment Postpone again “More than expected” after being found to be inflated.

According to space agency ISRO, SpaDeX is a cost-effective technology demonstration project to demonstrate in-space docking using two small space vehicles.