Astroscale on course to remove space debris

The COSMIC mission – Cleaning Outer Space Mission through Innovative Capture – will harness Astroscale’s Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO) and robotic debris capture capabilities to remove the satellites in the UK’s first national space debris removal mission.

Astroscale is currently working with selected industrial partners on the design of a spacecraft that will incorporate a robotic arm to safely and securely capture a defunct satellite in low earth orbit (LEO). Following capture, COSMIC will manoeuvre the defunct satellite out of the LEO environment and release it into a lower disposal orbit where it will burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

The COSMIC servicer will then go on to rendezvous with, capture and remove a second debris object.

“Active Debris Removal means we’re trying to grab hold of an object in space that was not designed with capture in mind,” said Sarah Cawley, senior project manager for COSMIC at Astroscale.

“In LEO, objects are hurtling through space at 17,000 miles (27,360 km) per hour. Our job is to design a spacecraft that can approach the unprepared satellite, analyse its behaviour and trajectory, and then manoeuvre to capture it safely.”

The COSMIC mission is being developed in collaboration with ten UK-based partner companies in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland including: MDA UK, Thales Alenia Space UK, Nammo, GMV-NSL, Raytheon NORSS, Goonhilly Earth Station, Satellite Applications Catapult, Willis Towers Watson, and other advisory and industrial partners.

The team combines systems engineering, guidance, navigation and control, mission operations and ground segment expertise.

Astroscale most recently proved its magnetic capture and RPO capability in-orbit during the End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration (ELSA-d) mission in 2021-2022. ELSA-d was licenced in the UK and operated from the National In-orbit Servicing Centre at Harwell, a new centre developed in partnership between Astroscale and the Satellite Applications Catapult supported by UKRI.

Later this year the company’s Japanese subsidiary will launch its ADRAS-J satellite in a step towards completing the world’s first large object debris-removal mission – Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration (CRD2) Project.

In the mission ADRAS-J will rendezvous with and inspect a three tonne upper stage H-IIA rocket body. The satellite will demonstrate rendezvous, fly-around, and proximity operations, and obtain images to deliver observational data essential to a Phase II of the project, which aims to capture and deorbit a large debris object in or after Japanese fiscal year 2025.  

The COSMIC debris removal servicer will be a technological evolution of Astroscale’s End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-Multi-client (ELSA-M) servicer – a commercial partnership with the European and UK Space Agencies and OneWeb under the Sunrise programme.

The first ELSA-M servicer will be launched ahead of the UK’s Active Debris Removal mission in 2025.

Paul Kostek, IEEE senior member and advisory systems engineer with Air Direct Solutions LLC (infrastructure) said that the huge surge in construction of satellites in LEO is presenting serious logistical challenges including allocation of frequencies for systems as well as overall traffic management.

“The industry needs to address how future satellites will be deployed and managed effectively, and to mitigate the risk of collisions, interference, and preventable incidents,” Kostek commented.

“Whilst this is a step in the right direction it’s important to manage the ever-growing volume of space debris by finding new ways to capture and destroy it. Other companies are already exploring the creation of vehicles to send to space, with the purpose to refuel and move satellites to extend their lives. The level of danger posed by space debris in the atmosphere could be decreased through the implementation of Space Traffic Management (STM).”

He added that further satellites will need to be designed to address issues such as changes to orbit whilst being capable of operating if damage does occur, for example to the modular systems.