Astroscale has been awarded a grant of up to $4.5 million from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s “Innovation Tokyo Project” to build a roadmap for commercializing active debris removal services. 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…

With the proliferation of satellites going to orbit of late, I’m often asked what lies ahead with respect to the issue of debris in space. By many accounts, thousands of new satellites will be in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) by 2025. These will be joining the hundreds of thousands of pieces of space debris already in…

Astroscale entered the Assembly, Integration, and Test (AIT) phase of its End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration (ELSA-d) mission, following completion of design reviews and subsystem testing. ELSA-d, the world’s first commercial orbital debris removal mission to operate in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO), consists of two spacecraft, a Servicer and a Client, and will demonstrate capture activities necessary…

Astroscale will collaborate with the University of Southampton on a project to investigate collision risks between satellites, highlighting the necessity for financial incentives for satellite operators to engage with active debris removal services. The University of Southampton is a partner university on the national SPRINT (SPace Research and Innovation Network for Technology) program and the…