India launch 2 satellites on a space docking test flight on Dec. 30

India will launch an ambitious space docking test flight on Monday (Dec. 30) that could set the stage for a future mission to the moon.

The India Space Research Organisation will launch the two small satellites of its Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) atop an Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on Monday. Liftoff is set for 11:30 a.m. EST (10 p.m. IST, 1628 GMT) from ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

You can watch the SpaDeX mission launch live online via ISRO’s YouTube livestream, which is expected to begin at 11 a.m. EST (1600 GMT).

The SpaDeX mission will launch two satellites, a Target and a Chaser, on a mission to test autonomous docking technology in orbit. But ISRO hopes to do more than just test automatic docking gear.

The mission also includes a secondary payload module with 24 different experiments aboard, including a small robotic arm. Scientists hope to test the arm and other payloads after docking in a payload operations demonstration, and also test dual spacecraft control and power transfer between the docked spacecraft.

“This technology is essential for India’s space ambitions such as Indian on Moon, sample return from the Moon, the building and operation of Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS), etc.,” ISRO officials wrote in an mission overview, using the official name to India’s planned space station. “In-space docking technology is essential when multiple rocket launches are required to achieve common mission objectives.”

The docking technology will be vital ISRO’s planned Chandrayaan-4 mission to the moon, which aims to return samples to Earth from the lunar south pole. A sample-return vehicle will have to dock in lunar orbit to transfer to sample to a return capsule. The ability to dock autonomously is also required for space station construction and operation as ISRO develops its human spaceflight program. Space