India to set final rocket stages up as experimental platforms

Interesting use of what would otherwise be space debris.

In a first, Isro will make dead rocket stage ‘alive’ in space for experiments - Times of India

If it can stay aloft for the duration, why not.

The stability , both orbit and spin/rotation could be trouble for tracking and energy harvesting though, unless there's a nuclear source squirrelled away.

I think its a brilliant idea & its surprising its not been done before. From what Ive seen on televised launches there plenty of space on the final stage to pack a few small experiments in. Leave some residual spin on the stage to keep it stable and you have a nice experimental platform

The Indians may come up against the other end of the long term orbit / debris issue by doing as proposed.
Most experimental or university piggybacked craft including the cubesats are deliberately launched into low earth orbits, not because they cannot survive or operate more efficiently higher up, but the decay guarantees a burn up inside a few years.

The higher stages of a rocket are subject to stricter regulations, including a tracking registration system, furthermore these are large lumps of metal with unspent propellant that do not always end up in the planned trajectory once discarded. There would be hell to pay if the 'experimental platform' becomes a piece of uncontrollable junk and interferes with the daily routine of the better known space elevator companies.

I do have some detail at work of the current number of tracked items sitting in different altitudes, last time I looked It was about a tenth of the stuff that has simply broken off, or otherwise gone rogue following launch.