Astroscale’s End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration (ELSA-d) spacecraft. (Astroscale)
WASHINGTON — A sizable investment of $25 million by Japanese mega-corporation Mitsubishi Electric — plus a planned partnership to support Japanese national security satellite development — will help firm Astroscale scale up its space junk cleanup and on-orbit servicing operations.
“We are on a mission to make on-orbit servicing routine by 2030, and these funds will significantly contribute to further innovative technology development, global expansion and increased capacity to meet the growing demand,” Astroscale founder and CEO Nobu Okada said in a Feb. 27 announcement of a “series G” fundraising round from new investors, totaling $76 million.
Astroscale’s new partnership with Mitsubishi is aimed at “the joint development and manufacturing of sustainably designed satellite buses for Japanese national security constellations,” according to a Feb. 27 joint announcement.
Under the deal, the two firms will build satellite buses “equipped with an Astroscale docking plate, similar to a car tow hook, with a standardized interface. This allows other spacecraft to dock with and move or remove satellites if they are unable to deorbit themselves at the end of their operational lives,” the announcement added.
The investment could also go towards building international growth. On the eve of the 2023 Australian International Airshow & Aerospace and Defence Exposition, a company spokesperson told Breaking Defense that itsplans hopefully will include building a customer base in Australia.
“We are talking to potential partners in Australia and are excited to see their space industry continue to grow,” the spokesperson said.
One of the five “lines of effort” identified by the Australian government’s newish Space Strategy states Australia must “Evolve the Defence Space Enterprise to ensure a coherent, efficient and effective use of the space domain.” On-orbit servicing — such as satellite refueling and repair — is increasingly being eyed by a number of governments world wide as a potential method to increase efficiency and maintain the sustainability of ever-more crowded orbits for the future.
Astroscale currently has operations in Japan, the United Kingdom, Israel, Singapore and has a US subsidiary headquartered in Denver. Astroscale US last November signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Air Force Research Laboratory to explore the potential for commercial capabilities to help the lab get “rendezvous, proximity and docking” operations technologies into the hands of Space Force Guardians.
The latest cash inflow for the Japanese startup brings the firm’s total funding up to approximately US $376 million since its establishment in 2013, according to the company’s announcement.
