With its ADRAS-J demonstrator, the Japanese company Astroscale has succeeded in autonomously approaching an old rocket stage still in Earth orbit. The objective? Show that it is possible to encounter large pieces of debris before capturing and destroying them. This will be the next step…
On February 18, the Astroscale company sent ADRAS-J into low Earth orbit. The mission of this satellite is above all a demonstration. The young company wants to assert itself in the medium and long term as a key player in a huge future market, that of the deorbiting of debris around the Earth. After testing and operating its first satellite last year, ADRAS-J is Astroscale’s most ambitious mission to date.
And it’s a question of not failing, because it is the Japanese space agency which ordered this demonstration and which monitors the operations. After a first approach phase in March, then a piloted phase at the beginning of April, ADRAS-J spent two weeks approaching an old H-IIA rocket stage, in orbit for 15 years. He now flies a few hundred meters and has photographed it from every angle.
We approach, but don’t touch
ADRAS-J (short for Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan) will only go so far, and that may not seem like much. But in reality, very few companies today are capable of creating a space vehicle that orients itself and approaches something for a rendezvous in orbit with relative and autonomous navigation.
Above all, it is not a question of meeting the ISS, which communicates and navigates with precision, but an old rocket stage: 11 meters long, 4 meters in diameter, which rotates slowly on itself and whose status was unknown before this meeting. Debris may be flying nearby, and it could have been in very poor condition.
Approaching a rocket stage is not a great historic first (after all, the Gemini capsules approached Agena, and Apollo their upper stage), but it is a decisive step for an autonomous satellite. Moreover, JAXA praised this success.
A floor within reach
The Japanese agency expected Astroscale to be successful, so three days ago it signed a contract for an additional mission, ADRAS-J2. And this time, the company will have to go to this same H-IIA rocket stage (the latter had sent an atmospheric observation satellite, GoSat, in 2009) to catch it using a robotic arm and cause it to burn up in the atmosphere.
This will again be a first, and above all a demonstration. Many agencies and companies will need this type of service in the next 10 years, especially as laws and agreements around orbital debris become more stringent as several thousand new satellites share space, especially in low orbit.
According to the ESA, there are 2,220 rocket stages left in orbit today. A large number of them date from the 60s, 70s and 80s, others will be desorbed naturally with very low atmospheric friction in the decades to come. But for some, you will need to give them a helping hand. Astroscale is undoubtedly the best positioned in this market for the moment.
Source : BBC
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