Company - Astroscale
Product/Service
- Classification
- In-Space Transportation
- Category
- Active Debris Removal (ADR)
On-Orbit Servicing
Propellant Refilling
Propellant Refuel Station
- Fields
- End of Life (EOL)
In-Space Satellite Servicing
Transport Service (In-Space)
On-Orbit Servicing
- Status
- Development
- First launch
- 2020
Proposing to aid in the removal of orbital debris through the provision of End of Life (EOL) and Active Debris Removal (ADR) services.
- End-Of-Life - for defunct satellites pre-engineered for servicing
- Active Debris Removal - of large, non-prepared threatening debris currently in orbit
- Life Extension - to keep GEO satellites in operation after fuel depletion
- In Situ SSA/Inspection - to diagnose and characterize objects
ELSA-D
Astroscale’s ELSA-d Finalizes De-Orbit Operations Marking Successful Mission Conclusion, 2024-01-24.
- ELSA-d was the world’s first commercial mission to prove the core technologies necessary for on-orbit satellite servicing in low Earth orbit (LEO). The mission, which consisted of two satellites — a servicer designed to safely remove debris from orbit and a client that serves as a piece of replica debris — was launched as a stack from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in March 2021.
- ELSA-d was the world’s first commercial mission to prove the core technologies necessary for on-orbit satellite servicing in low Earth orbit (LEO). The mission, which consisted of two satellites — a servicer designed to safely remove debris from orbit and a client that serves as a piece of replica debris — was launched as a stack from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in March 2021.
ELSA-M
The Astroscale-UK company has unveiled its concept to remove a defunct British satellite from orbit.
- The Oxfordshire-based company wants to send up a sophisticated robot arm to grab hold of the dead hardware.
- This junk would then be sent downwards to burn up in the atmosphere.
- The UK government is running a competition to find the best solution to clear up historic debris. The winner will run demonstrate its technology in late 2026 or early 2027.
Astroscale UK Secures Contract for Final Phase of ELSA-M In-Orbit Demonstration, 2024-07-22.
ADRAS-J
Astroscale’s ADRAS-J Completes Successful Rendezvous and Initiates Proximity Approach, 2024-04-11.
Astroscale spacecraft continues inspection of upper stage, 2024-07-09.
- Astroscale announced July 9 that its Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J) spacecraft conducted a “fly around” maneuver, going part way around the H-2A upper stage it has been inspecting for the last few months. ADRAS-J used sensors to maintain a distance of just 50 meters from the stage.
- However, about one third of the way through the maneuver, ADRAS-J encountered what the company called an “unexpected attitude anomaly” that triggered an automatic abort. The spacecraft moved away from the stage as designed to avoid any risk of a collision.
- In addition to being a technical demonstration of rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO), Okada said ADRAS-J was a policy demonstration, following guidelines for on-orbit servicing released by the Japanese government for safety and transparency. That included getting appropriate permissions, emphasizing safe operations and sharing information about spacecraft operations.
Astroscale’s ADRAS-J Achieves15-Meter Approach to Space Debris, 2024-12-11.
- When ADRAS-J was 50 meters behind the upper stage the spacecraft reduced the gap in a straight-line approach then maneuvered to approximately 15 meters below the Payload Attach Fitting (PAF) — the planned capture point for the follow-on ADRAS-J2 mission — aligning the spacecraft’s relative speed, distance, and attitude.
- ADRAS-J successfully maintained this position until an autonomous abort was triggered by the onboard collision avoidance system due to an unexpected relative attitude anomaly with the upper stage.
ADRAS-J2
- Projected a launch in the company’s 2028 fiscal year, which ends in April 2028.
- The ADRAS-J2 contract is a major boost to the company’s contracted backlog, which stood at 5.4 billion yen as of April, according to the presentation. Astroscale’s subsidiary in the United Kingdom also finalized a contract in July for the final phase of the ELSA-M satellite deorbiting mission that added more than 2.3 billion yen to that backlog.
- The company expects to convert that backlog into revenue over the next few years. Astroscale had income, which it stated includes contract revenue and government grants, of nearly 4.7 billion yen in the 2024 fiscal year that ended in April. It is forecasting income of 18 billion yen in 2025.
- With the scrutiny of the public markets, Astroscale is turning its focus on profitability. “We are aiming for an operating profit close to breakeven in fiscal year 2026 through further growth,” Nobu Okada, chief executive and founder of Astroscale, said at the briefing.
- Matsuyama said later in the briefing that gross profit should come close to breakeven in the 2025 fiscal year, although with an operating loss that will be bigger than the 11.5 billion yen recorded in 2024. He said that will improve as the company’s research and development costs decline, adding that the company’s cash balance should be sufficient to get the company to breakeven without addition equity raises.
- Chris Blackerby, chief operating officer of Astroscale, noted in the briefing that consulting firm NSR estimated that the overall on-orbit service market was valued at $3.1 billion over the next decade in a 2020 study, but grew to $18.2 billion in its most recent report earlier this year. “At Astroscale, we’re looking at a target market share of over 50%,” he said.
Astroscale Prototype Servicer for Refueling (APS-R)
OneWeb De-orbit Mission
Astroscale approaches critical design review for OneWeb de-orbit mission, SpaceNews, 2024-11-29.
- The British subsidiary of Japan’s Astroscale is preparing for a critical design review early next year of a servicer that will attempt to remove a OneWeb broadband satellite from low Earth orbit (LEO) in 2026.
- The 500-kilogram servicer for the ELSA-M program, or End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-Multiple, is currently in a “flatsat” phase where its various components are laid out on a clean room table for testing and checkout.
LEXI
Astroscale reveals concept of operations for its in-orbit refueling vehicle, SpaceNews, 2024-01-17
- Astroscale is developing an in-space refueling vehicle that will shuttle back and forth between a fuel depot in geostationary Earth orbit and a client satellite.
- Named APS-R, for Astroscale Prototype Servicer for Refueling, the vehicle will be a small satellite about the size of a gas pump, designed to conduct multiple refueling missions in GEO.
- APS-R will rendezvous and dock with a fuel depot operated by Orbit Fab, a startup developing so-called gas stations in space. The company is working on a hydrazine fueling station to be deployed 36,000 kilometers above Earth, partly funded by a $13.3 million contract from the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit.
- According to Astroscale’s concept of operations, a potential client satellite receiving fuel could be the company’s Life Extension In-Orbit (LEXI), designed to perform life extension services in geostationary orbit. Astroscale two years ago announced plans to launch LEXI in 2026 and signed an agreement with Orbit Fab for refueling services.
Towards a Circular Space Economy: Satellite Refurbishment and Upgrading Services for Orbital Sustainability
News
- The companies said July 2023 the first docking plate would be attached to an undisclosed satellite later this year for a launch in the fourth quarter of 2024.
- It is the first time 10-year-old Astroscale has announced a commercial partnership for the hardware, as work continues to demonstrate how upcoming servicers could perform de-orbit and life-extension missions after latching onto the docking plate.
Satellites could become more sustainable, thanks to new UK Space Agency funding, 2024-02-09
- Contracts have been awarded to Astroscale, ClearSpace and Orbit Fab for refuelling research:
- Astroscale will adapt their existing ‘COSMIC’ debris removal spacecraft to a new refuelling servicer product, partnering with TAS, Airbus Defence & Space, Orbit Fab and GMV.
- Astroscale expects 7-8% of the Eutelsat OneWeb satellites launched with its magnetic docking plates will fail in their attempts to deorbit on their own, resulting in Astroscale sending up debris-removal spacecraft to bring them down at a fee of $8 million to $13 million per satellite.
Status Comment / Notes
Astro Digital to integrate Astroscale in-orbit servicing docking plates, SpaceNews, 2023-08-01.
- ELSA-d’s 175-kilogram servicer later lost the use of half its thrusters in early 2022, forcing Astroscale to scrap plans to recapture and de-orbit the 17-kilogram client craft.
- The End of Life Services by Astroscale-multiple mission (ELSA-m), delayed from 2024, would be designed to capture multiple satellites of up to 800 kilograms in a single mission, although follow-on clients have not been announced.
- In 2025, Astroscale plans to send a larger servicer to LEO with a mass of a few hundred kilograms to capture and de-orbit a defunct 150-kilogram OneWeb satellite, which has a compatible magnetic docking plate the Japanese venture did not provide.
- Under a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) contract, Astroscale plans to use a spacecraft launching on a Rocket Lab Electron later this year to inspect a discarded upper stage of a Japanese H2-A rocket.
Product/Service
- Classification
- Miscellaneous
- Category
- Space Situational Awareness (SSA)
- Status
- Development
- First launch
- 2020
Created: 2023-07-14
Updated: 2023-08-17
Sources
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News, Research, Projects and Patents
Title | Type | Date | Summary |
---|---|---|---|
Financing Astroscale | Report | 2024-05-04 | |
Astroscale ships its space junk removal demonstration satellite for March 2021 mission | News | 2020-12-22 | > Japanese startup Astroscale has shipped its ELSA-d spacecraft to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazahkstan, where it will be integrated with a Soyuz rocket for a launch scheduled for March of next year. This is a crucial mission for Astroscale, since it’ll be the first in-space demonstration of the company’s technology for de-orbiting space debris, a cornerstone of its proposed space sustainability service business. |
Astroscale moving into GEO satellite servicing market | News, Acquisition | 2020-06-03 | > Astroscale announced June 3 it is acquiring the intellectual property of the satellite-servicing company Effective Space Solutions. The move positions Astroscale’s U.S. subsidiary to become a direct competitor to Northrop Grumman in the geostationary satellite servicing market. |