11 December 2024 – Astroscale Japan Inc., a subsidiary of Astroscale Holdings Inc. has announced that its commercial debris inspection demonstration satellite, Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J), successfully approached a large piece of space debris – a rocket upper stage – to approximately 15 meters. This is the closest approach ever achieved by a commercial company to space debris through Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO). ADRAS-J was selected by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for Phase I of its Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration. This latest approach, however, was an ambitious goal independently designed by Astroscale, in addition to JAXA’s baseline mission requirements. The objective was to demonstrate highly precise and complex close-range RPO capabilities by advancing to the Capture Initiation Point (CIP), where future debris removal missions start robotic capture operations. Read more