{"id":44430,"date":"2025-02-28T20:27:38","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T12:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/astroscale-aced-the-worlds-first-rendezvous-with-a-piece-of-space-junk\/"},"modified":"2025-02-28T20:27:38","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T12:27:38","slug":"astroscale-aced-the-worlds-first-rendezvous-with-a-piece-of-space-junk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/astroscale-aced-the-worlds-first-rendezvous-with-a-piece-of-space-junk\/","title":{"rendered":"Astroscale aced the world\u2019s first rendezvous with a piece of space junk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s a scene in the film <em>Interstellar&nbsp;<\/em>where Matthew McConaughey\u2019s character flies his spaceplane up to meet a mothership spinning out of control. The protagonist rises to the challenge with a polished piece of piloting and successfully links up with his objective.<\/p>\n<p style=\"\">Real life, of course, isn\u2019t quite this dramatic. Slow down that spin to a tranquil tumble, and replace McConaughey\u2019s hand on the joystick with the autonomous wits of a computer, and you\u2019ll arrive at an approximation of what Japanese company Astroscale has accomplished within the last year.<\/p>\n<p>Still, it\u2019s an impressive feat of engineering and orbital dynamics. Astroscale\u2019s ADRAS-J mission became the first spacecraft (at least in the unclassified world) to approach a piece of space junk in low-Earth orbit. This particular object, a derelict upper stage from a Japanese H-IIA rocket, has been in orbit since 2009. It\u2019s one of about 2,000 spent rocket bodies circling the Earth and one of more than 45,000 objects in orbit tracked by US Space Command.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the world\u2019s first technology that allows any object orbiting the Earth at high speeds to be safely approached from the ground,\u201d said Nobu Okada, founder and CEO of Tokyo-based Astroscale. \u201cIt has great potential.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Mission success<\/h2>\n<p>Like most other space debris, the H-IIA rocket approached by Astroscale is uncontrolled and lacks navigation aids or inter-satellite communication links that could help another satellite safely move in for a close look. This presents a more significant technical challenge than rendezvousing with a \u201ccooperative\u201d object like the International Space Station.<\/p>\n<p>Ars reported on the progress of Astroscale\u2019s ADRAS-J mission last August, soon after the spacecraft flew as close as 50 meters (164 feet) from the H-IIA rocket. ADRAS-J is the centerpiece of a public-private partnership between Astroscale and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which participated with a $13 million contract to co-fund the mission.<\/p>\n<p>,<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2P8rPbZRh98?si=zggyKUTGzPM542QS\" width=\"678\" height=\"381\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">\ufeff<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>ADRAS-J, short for Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan, launched in February 2024 to begin its pursuit of the H-IIA rocket in a polar orbit more than 350 miles (560 kilometers) above the planet. On November 30, ADRAS-J completed its final close approach to the H-IIA upper stage to reach a position just 15 meters (49 feet) from the rocket, using cameras and laser ranging sensors for autopilot navigation before backing away.<\/p>\n<p>With this achievement, Astroscale unlocked its final milestone payment from the Japanese space agency, officials announced Wednesday. Part of Astroscale\u2019s demonstration involved completing a 360\u00b0 fly-around of the H-IIA rocket.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was acrobatic and super difficult technology,\u201d Okada said last month in a briefing on Astroscale\u2019s business outlook. \u201cPlease remember the debris is not sitting still. It is traveling around the Earth at seven to eight kilometers per second, which is (nearly) 100 times faster than a bullet train.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Imagery captured by Astroscale showed the H-IIA upper stage to be in good condition, looking much like it did before it launched 16 years ago on a mission to deploy a Japanese climate research satellite. The remnant rocket is about the size of a city bus, while ADRAS-J is a little larger than a kitchen oven.<\/p>\n<h2>Is this really for space junk?<\/h2>\n<p>It will be up to a future Astroscale mission, named ADRAS-J2, to transit the last 15 meters to the H-IIA rocket. ADRAS-J was a pathfinder and didn\u2019t have the equipment to actually latch onto another object in orbit. Last year, Japan\u2019s space agency awarded Astroscale a contract worth $88 million (13.2 billion yen) to build and launch ADRAS-J2 to rendezvous and use a robotic arm to attach itself to the same H-IIA rocket, then steer the discarded upper stage back into the atmosphere for a destructive reentry.<\/p>\n<p>,<\/p>\n<p>ADRAS-J2 is scheduled to launch in 2027, according to Astroscale.<\/p>\n<p>Astroscale\u2019s showcase in orbital ballet positions the company as a contender in the commercial satellite servicing industry, where business opportunities may eclipse the market for space debris removal, which Okada founded Astroscale to pursue in 2013. The company has subsidiaries in the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Israel to tailor offerings to customers in different parts of the world.<\/p>\n<p>The US and European governments are now customers for Astroscale. The UK Space Agency and the European Space Agency partnered to award Astroscale approximately $35 million in government support for a demonstration mission named ELSA-M, slated to launch in late 2025 or early 2026 for an attempt to capture and de-orbit a defunct satellite in OneWeb\u2019s broadband megaconstellation using a magnetic docking plate. This will differ from Astroscale\u2019s work in Japan because the OneWeb satellite will be prepared to receive a visitor, unlike the H-IIA rocket.<\/p>\n<p>Removing space junk from orbit sounds like a wonderful idea. It could reduce the chance of collisions generating more pieces of space debris. Spent rocket stages left in orbit are among the most concerning objects for space debris hawks because they might retain propellants or stored battery energy with explosive potential.<\/p>\n<p>But the big question is who pays for such an undertaking? Removing just the 2,000 rocket bodies from orbit could probably cost tens of billions of dollars. Perhaps it\u2019s worth launching a handful of cleanup missions to remove the most hazardous objects in orbit, such as large spacecraft or debris flying too high for atmospheric drag to force reentry for centuries or longer.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, it\u2019s not surprising Astroscale has pivoted to other applications. The rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) technology proven with ADRAS-J enables several other types of missions, such as satellite servicing and inspection.<\/p>\n<p>,<\/p>\n<p>Astroscale\u2019s US subsidiary won a $25.5 million contract from the US Space Force in 2023 to build a satellite refueler that can hop around geostationary orbit. Like the ADRAS-J mission, this project is a public-private partnership, with Astroscale committing $12 million of its own money. In January, the Japanese government selected Astroscale for a contract worth up to $80 million to demonstrate chemical refueling in low-Earth orbit.<\/p>\n<p>The latest win for Astroscale came Thursday, when the Japanese Ministry of Defense awarded the company a contract to develop a prototype satellite that could fly in geostationary orbit and collect information on other objects in the domain for Japan\u2019s military and intelligence agencies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are very bullish on the prospects for defense-related business,\u201d said Nobu Matsuyama, Astroscale\u2019s chief financial officer.<\/p>\n<p>Astroscale\u2019s other projects include a life-extension mission for an unidentified customer in geostationary orbit, providing a service similar to that of Northrop Grumman\u2019s Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV).<\/p>\n<p>So, can Astroscale really do all of this? In an era of a militarized final frontier, it\u2019s easy to see the usefulness of sidling up next to a \u201cnon-cooperative\u201d satellite\u2014whether it\u2019s to refuel it, repair it, de-orbit it, inspect it, or (<em>gasp!)&nbsp;<\/em>disable it. Astroscale\u2019s demonstration with ADRAS-J showed it can safely operate near another object in space without navigation aids, which is foundational to any of these applications.<\/p>\n<p>So far, governments are driving demand for this kind of work.<\/p>\n<p>Astroscale raised nearly $400 million in venture capital funding before going public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange last June. After quickly spiking to nearly $1 billion, the company\u2019s market valuation has dropped to about $540 million as of Thursday. Astroscale has around 590 full-time employees across all its operating locations.<\/p>\n<p>Matsuyama said Astroscale\u2019s total backlog is valued at about 38.9 billion yen, or $260 million. The company is still in a ramp-up phase, reporting operating losses on its balance sheet and steep research and development spending that Matsuyama said should max out this year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are the only company that has proved RPO technology for non-cooperative objects, like debris, in space,\u201d Okada said last month.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn simple terms, this means approach and capture of objects,\u201d Okada continued. \u201cThis capability did not exist before us, but one\u2019s mastering of this technology enables you to provide not only debris removal service, but also orbit correction, refueling, inspection, observation, and eventually repair and reuse services.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s a scene in the film Interstellar&nbsp;where Matthew McConaughey\u2019s character flies his spaceplane up to meet a mothership spinning out of control. The protagonist rises to the challenge with a polished piece of piloting and successfully links up with his objective. Real life, of course, isn\u2019t quite this dramatic. Slow down that spin to a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1816,377,877,2247,79,4180],"class_list":["post-44430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-astroscale","tag-japan","tag-jaxa","tag-satellite-servicing","tag-space-debris","tag-space-junk"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44430"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}