Japan’s Astroscale Develops New Spacecraft To Clean Dangerously Congested Space From Decommissioned Satellites

With the non-stop exploration in space and more satellites being launched, experts said it's getting congested up there. But a Japanese company is working on a vehicle to clean the space junk.

Astroscale Develops A Space Cleaning Vehicle

An innovative new plan for decontaminating low Earth orbit (LEO) is shown in a new video from the Japanese space company Astroscale.

As firms like SpaceX's Starlink, OneWeb, Amazon Kuiper, and others develop LEO satellite constellations ranging in the thousands, spaceflight professionals and astronomers are growing more concerned about the problem of how to mitigate and clear up space garbage and orbital debris. These satellites have fixed lives, and while many are built to burn up in the atmosphere when they deorbit, not all do.

Astroscale intends to fill that gap with its End of Life Services by Astroscale-Multiple (ELSA-M) spacecraft, which is built to catch and deorbit retired satellites, Space.com reported.

The film claims that there are over 2,200 defunct satellites and over 630 cases of debris-producing on-orbit collisions, demonstrating how dangerously crowded space is and that it's time to take action.

In 2021, Astroscale launched the first flight of ELSA-D, a prior version of its vehicle, and later that year, successfully tested the capacity of repeated magnetic capture. A few months later, the corporation declared that it was stopping the spacecraft's operations due to "anomalous spacecraft conditions."

The deorbiting of the upgraded ESLA-M is seen in a new video from Astroscale. Before completing alignment and docking maneuvers, the spacecraft undertakes a visual check of a rendered client satellite. The client satellite's orbit is then lowered by ELSA-M using its thrusters toward an atmospheric course, where it safely detonates upon reentry.

When the client satellite is on a collision course, ESLA-M detaches and adjusts its orbit in preparation for a rendezvous with the next object.

ALSO READ: Is Betelgeuse Going Supernova? Red Supergiant Star Continues To Show Unexpected Behavior

What Is Astroscale?

Nobu Okada, Astroscale's Founder & CEO, said the company offers a complete solution for all missions; it takes care of mission licensing, spectrum acquisition, insurance, and operations for space debris clearance. Astroscale is dedicated to on-orbit servicing across all orbits and aims to make a sustainable future of space.

The company acknowledged that services from space fuel our daily lives, and with tens of thousands of satellites scheduled to launch over the next ten years to improve our life here on Earth, it would also mean that the orbital lane would be packed and hazardous. To reduce the risk associated with these services and boost value for operators, a sustainable infrastructure is required, and that is what Astroscale is trying to address.

In addition to giving operators and launchers options and flexibility across the range of on-orbit servicing, Astroscale also lays a solid framework for expanding the space economy. They are thrilled to take the lead in a revolutionary new market that will change the course of space travel.

The company also introduced its Generation 2 Docking Plate on June 13. According to Astroscale, it has an on-orbit lifetime of more than 15 years.

The plate will provide what the business considers a much-needed starting point for various service choices and more responsible use of Earth's orbital resources by making it easier for deorbiting spacecraft to latch onto satellites that need deorbited.