ISRO gears up for last mission of 2024, to experiment with 24 payloads

Preparing for the last mission of the year, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday announced that it will be deploying 24 scientific experiments into space aboard the PSLV Orbital Experiment Module-4 (POEM-4) under the SpaDeX mission. The launch is expected to take place on December 30 as per reports.

POEM uses the leftover fourth stage of the PSLV rocket to perform in-orbit microgravity experiments for up to three months. Instead of becoming space debris after delivering the primary payloads, this platform allows scientists to test new ideas and technologies in space, paving the way for future missions, the space agency said in a statement. The SpaDeX mission is the fourth POEM mission in the series.

The 24 payloads include a mix of projects from different entities--14 payloads are from ISRO and its research facilities and 10 are from various non-government entities (NGEs) comprising academia and startups that have been received through the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe). “This is a significant three-fold increase in the capacity of POEM as compared with the previous POEM-3 platform, wherein it had hosted only eight payloads,” ISRO said.


ISRO announced that the five payloads from the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) aim to experiment with a debris-capturing robotic arm, a MEMS-based high-rate sensor, a gradient control reaction wheel, a laser unit, and a plant research module. The four payloads from the Space Physics Laboratory (SPL) will conduct experiments such as analysing electron temperature, tools for studying electron density and neutral winds, and ionospheric modelling.

The 10 payloads from NGEs relate to the study of various spectra of science and engineering, such as the growth of plant callus in space from Amity University in Mumbai, green monopropellant-based propulsion system thrusters from Bellatrix Aerospace and another green propulsion from Manastu Space Technologies. GalaxEye Space Solutions will deploy its Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and PierSight will deploy its in-orbit SAR in a CubeSat form factor, which ET had earlier reported.

Other NGEs include MIT WPU, Nspace Tech, TakeMe2Space, RV College of Engineering and SJC Institute of Technology.

According to the space agency, the SpaDeX mission will demonstrate the ability to dock two small spacecraft that will be crucial for building the country’s ambitious Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS) and other future lunar missions. This feat will make India one of the four countries to achieve space docking.