Astroscale: Orbital debris eradication firm based in Tokyo.

During this AIT phase the spacecraft and its capture mechanism will be built and tested, along with its propulsion system. It will undergo a thermal vacuum test, to ensure it can survive the harsh environment of space, and a vibration test to check it can handle the rigors of launch.

Astroscale will rely heavily, but not exclusively, on Japanese partners to implement the inspector mission, Lopez said. The company has raised $140 million since forming in 2013, and has roughly 100 employees spread across Japan, Singapore, the United States, and the United Kingdom, Lopez said. If Astroscale is awarded a follow-on contract under JAXA’s Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration 2 program, the company would be given until March 31, 2026 — the end of Japan’s fiscal year — to deorbit the spent upper stage. Last month the European Space Agency was forced to dodge out of the wayof one of SpaceX’s satellites in its developing constellation, called Starlink. By some estimates, 67,000 such maneuvers will be needed every year to avoid mega constellation satellites.

The capital was used to set up an R&D facility and office in Tokyo to accelerate the development of satellites and future space debris removal missions. On 1 March 2016, Astroscale announced a further US$35 million in funding and on 21 March 2017, incorporated Astroscale Ltd. in the United Kingdom. Astroscale announced it had completed a Series C funding round and raised US$25 million on 14 July 2017. In February 2020, Astroscale announced its selection as the commercial partner for Phase I of JAXA’s first debris removal project. The JAXA Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration project consists of two mission phases to achieve one of the world’s first debris removal missions of a large object, the first of which has been awarded to Astroscale. This first phase will be demonstrated by the end of the Japan Fiscal Year 2022 and will focus on data acquisition on an upper stage Japanese rocket body. Astroscale will be responsible for the manufacturing, launch and operations of the satellite that will characterize the rocket body, acquiring and delivering movement observational data to better understand the debris environment.

In 2019, Astroscale will launch a demonstration mission called ELSA-d, which stands for End-of-Life Service by Astroscale-demonstration, the company said. It will consist of a “dummy” satellite meant to represent a piece of space junk and another satellite designed to retrieve that junk. Once in orbit at between 310 miles and 370 miles above the Earth, the two craft will separate. The retrieval craft will attach to and release the dummy craft three times in a kind of space waltz. “Is there anyone who still doubts that commercial space debris removal is feasible?” Okada asked the crowd. “We are excited to be taking this next step in building our groundbreaking mission,” said Seita Iizuka, Project Manager for the mission, in a statement. “ELSA-d is an incredibly complex satellite as we will be demonstrating rendezvous and proximity operations technologies that have never before been tested in space.”

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Contributions such as these will enable Harwell to be a world-leading facility enabling industry to capture the high potential market of in-orbit satellite servicing. The grant has been awarded through the Government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, which supports innovative businesses that address important industrial and societal challenges. WASHINGTON — The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has selected Astroscale to send a spacecraft into orbit to inspect a discarded Japanese rocket upper stage, a step that would pave the way for a debris-removal mission. The Astroscale debris removal spacecraft, called the End-of-Life Services by Astroscale Demonstration, or Elsa-D, was launched on a Russian-built Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The rocket is operated by GK Launch Services, a Russian company known for its reliability and low cost. “There has been growing global recognition of the need for a solution to the orbital debris problem over the last several years,” said Nobu Okada, Founder and CEO of Astroscale, in the statement.

120 Astroscale Holdings Inc. is a private orbital debris removal company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The company is developing satellite end-of-life and active debris removal services to mitigate the growing and hazardous buildup of debris in space. Astroscale is an orbital debris removal company developing satellite end-of-life and active debris removal services to mitigate the growing and hazardous buildup of debris in space. Over 4,500 satellites orbit the Earth, providing critical services including global communication and positioning capabilities. Upwards of 15,000 satellites are expected to be launched over the next 10 years, including into orbits that are already highly populated. There are growing concerns that a collision between uncontrolled space debris and an active satellite could cause global commercial and security risks and lead to a cascading debris effect making these orbits unsustainable. This issue was highlighted in August 2017 when the governments of Japan and the UK signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen collaboration on mitigating space debris.

• Astroscale received the maximum amount covering half of its U.S.$9 million application and will use the funds over three years to commercialize its ADR services and develop global sales channels with satellite operators, national agencies and the insurance market.
• The mission will begin with the box-shaped client spacecraft separating from the larger service spacecraft.
• The CB Insights tech market intelligence platform analyzes millions of data points on vendors, products, partnerships, and patents to help your team find their next technology solution.
• It is being undertaken in partnership with OneWeb, a U.S. satellite communications company, and plans are in the pipeline to conduct an in-orbit demonstration test by the end of 2024.

This demonstration will show that a deorbiter spacecraft is nimble enough to follow and capture the client vehicle even in suboptimal environments. Then the service vehicle will complete the crucial step of changing the satellite from tumbling to non-tumbling, demonstrating once again that it has control. The company’s End-of-Life Services demonstration (ELSA-d) mission, launching in less than two months, seeks to exhibit the company’s ability to capably and safely find, dock with, and remove orbital debris. “This mission is so revolutionary because, not only has this never been done before by a commercial company, but these same core technologies we’re demonstrating with ELSA-d will be applied to other support and logistics services we can provide,” Riesbeck asserts. The project, which was launched last year, aims to subsidize up to half of the expenses required for the commercialization and development of innovative services and products for venture companies and small and medium-sized enterprises. Astroscale received the maximum amount covering half of its U.S.$9 million application and will use the funds over three years to commercialize its ADR services and develop global sales channels with satellite operators, national agencies and the insurance market.

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Astroscale is also defining business cases and working with government and commercial stakeholders to develop norms, regulations, and incentives for the responsible use of space. The CB Insights tech market intelligence platform analyzes millions of data points on vendors, products, partnerships, and patents to help your team find their next technology solution.

• Astroscale Ltd. is selected for a UK Space Agency Study to remove two unprepared spacecraft in low Earth orbit.
• In February 2020, Astroscale announced its selection as the commercial partner for Phase I of JAXA’s first debris removal project.
• Propellants that do not involve chemical reactions are included, but for the sake of clarity as a general term, propellants are described as fuel.
• Astroscale is also defining business cases and working with government and commercial stakeholders to develop norms, regulations, and incentives for the responsible use of space.
• The Space Sweepers team come together in Japan to celebrate the company’s first of many milestones.

Based on the results of the ELSA-d test, the company is developing ELSA-M, which can capture and remove multiple pieces of debris in a single mission. It is being undertaken in partnership with OneWeb, a U.S. satellite communications company, and plans are in the pipeline to conduct an in-orbit demonstration test by the end of 2024. On 24 July 2018, Astroscale received a £4 million grant from the Government of the United Kingdom and established the National In-orbit Servicing Control Centre Facility at the Satellite Applications Catapult in Harwell, Oxfordshire.

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Several carefully planned maneuvers were conducted over the past two months to prepare the servicer for a controlled close approach rendezvous with the client. This handover has been the most challenging operation of the ELSA-d mission so far and is widely recognized as one of the more difficult capabilities to prove for satellite servicing operations.