For more than a decade, an abandoned piece of a Japanese rocket has been hurtling uncontrollably around Earth, at risk of colliding with active satellites and wreaking havoc in orbit.
Now a Tokyo-based startup led by a veteran of McKinsey & Co. and the Japanese Ministry of Finance send a spacecraft to examine the debris. This is an important step in the effort to address the threats posed by man-made space debris to billion-dollar systems run by Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and others.
An Astroscale Holdings Inc. spacecraft that launched Feb. 19 aboard an Electron rocket from Rocket Lab USA Inc.'s launch complex in New Zealand will soon attempt the world's first close-up of large debris in orbit.
Once testing is complete to ensure the equipment will function properly after launch, Astroscale intends to ship the vehicle within 100 meters (328 feet). the upper stage of a rocket left in orbit by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in 2009, one of many such pieces left in space by countries including the United States, China and Russia.
As part of the Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J) mission, the spacecraft will orbit the old rocket, measuring its rotation speed and making other observations – no easy task when the target is about three tons, 600 kilometers across the Earth and rushes through space at a speed of eight kilometers per second.
If ADRAS-J can pull it off, Astroscale will take a big step toward its longer-term goal of using vehicles to clean up trash, according to founder and chief executive officer Nobu Okada, who started Astroscale in 2013 with $200,000, half of his total savings.
“The space industry was just a throwaway culture,” he said. “The world needs our services.”
Okada, a 50-year-old former IT entrepreneur and strategy consultant, founded Astroscale after attending a conference in Germany where the problem of debris was a hot topic. He settled in Singapore, where he had been running another software startup, and opened a small office in a garage in Tokyo. In 2019 he moved to Astroscale headquarters to Tokyo.
A funding round last year raised $83.6 million and valued Astroscale at $954 million. Investors included Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, Mizuho Bank Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and the Development Bank of Japan.
The company's first attempt to measure a small piece of debris in low-Earth orbit failed in 2017, but a follow-up mission in 2021 successfully docked with a 17-kilogram (37-pound) satellite placed into orbit for the test.
Risky orbits
There are about 36,500 pieces of rubble According to the European Space Agency, they orbit more than 10 centimeters from the Earth and pose a risk of collision with Starlink and SpaceX satellites Amazon.com Inc.s Project Kuiper Constellations as well as other spacecraft such as the Chinese space station.
To reduce the danger, regulators are requiring satellite operators to develop plans for removing satellites from orbit once they become inactive.
“Ten years ago no one knew anything about space debris, but today it’s different,” Okada said. “We are seeing real growth in the market because you can see the regulations coming.”
Read more: The FAA is proposing a space debris cleanup rule to clear Earth's orbit
Okada plans to expand into other types of services for satellites, including refueling and repair. The satellite services market is estimated to reach size $5.1 billion by 2030according to MarketsandMarkets Research.
Okada's early launch has helped win contracts from five governments, including a $25.5 million contract with the US Space Force to develop a satellite that can do this refuel other satellites in space.
The ADRAS–The J mission, designed to conduct so-called rendezvous and proximity operations, has an undisclosed amount of funding from JAXA's Commercial Removal of Debris demonstration program, which the space agency launched in 2019 to attract private companies to develop debris removal technologies to encourage.
“RPOs present a significant challenge for spacecraft,” said Caleb Henry, director of research at analytics firm Quilty Space. “If Astroscale is successful with ADRAS-J, it will demonstrate the technical feasibility of commercial debris removal and could encourage customers to purchase such services.”
Tow truck
While JAXA has selected Astroscale for the first phase of the program, JAXA has yet to select a company for the program next phase – a demonstration of the ability to capture space debris and remove it from its current location.
Okada's goal is to make satellite removal and other orbital operations commonplace. “By 2030 we want to make all maintenance work routine,” he said. “Look at the garbage truck or the tow truck. They do their work every day.”