Astroscale’s ADRAS-J Successfully Demonstrates Fly-Around Observations of Space Debris

Astroscale’s ADRAS-J Successfully Demonstrates Fly-Around Observations of Space Debris

Astroscale Japan, a subsidiary of Astroscale Holdings, a company in satellite servicing and long-term orbital sustainability across all orbits, announced that its commercial debris inspection demonstration satellite, Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J), has achieved an unprecedented technical milestone for a commercial company: the controlled fly-around operations of the space debris (rocket upper stage) capturing images from various angles and lighting conditions while maintaining a controlled fixed-point relative position of approximately 50 meters from the upper stage.

ADRAS-J is the world’s first attempt to safely approach, characterize and survey the state of an existing piece of large debris through Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO). This groundbreaking mission has rendezvoused with an unprepared Japanese upper stage rocket body that is approximately 11 meters long, 4 meters in diameter, and weighs approximately 3 tons. After demonstrating safe approach and proximity operations with the object that is the size of a city bus, ADRAS-J has been gathering images and other data to assess its movement and structural condition. 

Unprepared objects in orbit are not designed with any technologies that enable docking or potential servicing or removal, heightening the complexity of operations. The information gained from these images will provide essential data that will support a future mission to capture and remove the object.

During the first fly-around observation in June, ADRAS-J was approximately one-third through the maneuver (~120 degrees) when an unexpected attitude anomaly triggered an autonomous abort. ADRAS-J safely maneuvered away from the upper stage as designed, demonstrating the effectiveness of its on-board collision avoidance system in safely approaching a non-cooperative object. ADRAS-J then reapproached the upper stage and demonstrated two successful fly-around observations.

Watch the stunning timelapses taken during fly-around operations:

Satellites and debris objects in low Earth orbit (below 2,000 km) travel at speeds of approximately 7 to 8 km per second, highlighting the challenge of locating, approaching, orbiting around, and gathering data from objects at this altitude. These capabilities are the baseline for on-orbit servicing and the achievements from the ADRAS-J mission will herald a new era in RPO missions, paving the way for future on-orbit services while laying the foundation for a sustainable space environment.

The ADRAS-J spacecraft was selected by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency for Phase I of its Commercial Debris Removal Demonstration program, aimed at demonstrating technologies for removing large debris. Astroscale Japan was also selected as the contracting party for Phase II, which will involve the capture and deorbit of the upper stage. 

Development of the ADRAS-J2 spacecraft is underway, and the heritage of the ADRAS-J spacecraft and operations, along with the data collected, will be utilized for the removal phase of the program. The three fly-around operations have revealed no major damage to the payload attach fitting, which is the planned capture point for the ADRAS-J2 mission.

Since the launch in February, the major ADRAS-J mission highlights include:

  • Feb. 18: launch and start of in-orbit operations.
  • Feb. 22: start of rendezvous phase.
  • Apr. 9: start of Angles Only Navigation and proximity approach from several hundred kilometers.
  • Apr. 16: start of Model Matching Navigation relative navigation techniques.
  • Apr. 17: approach to the client within several hundred meters.
  • May 23: approach to the client within 50 meters.
  • May 23: first fixed-point observation completed.
  • Jun. 17: second fixed-point observation completed.
  • Jun. 19: start of fly-around operation and validation of collision avoidance system.
  • Jul. 14: approach to the client within 50 meters. Third fixed-point observation completed.
  • Jul. 15: successful second fly-around observation.
  • Jul. 16: successful third fly-around observation.

Click here to learn more about Astroscale's ADRAS-J Active Debris Removal Mission.


Publisher: SatNow
Tags:-  SatelliteLaunchGround

GNSS Constellations - A list of all GNSS satellites by constellations

beidou

Satellite NameOrbit Date
BeiDou-3 G4Geostationary Orbit (GEO)17 May, 2023
BeiDou-3 G2Geostationary Orbit (GEO)09 Mar, 2020
Compass-IGSO7Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)09 Feb, 2020
BeiDou-3 M19Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)16 Dec, 2019
BeiDou-3 M20Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)16 Dec, 2019
BeiDou-3 M21Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)23 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 M22Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)23 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 I3Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)04 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 M23Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)22 Sep, 2019
BeiDou-3 M24Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)22 Sep, 2019

galileo

Satellite NameOrbit Date
GSAT0223MEO - Near-Circular05 Dec, 2021
GSAT0224MEO - Near-Circular05 Dec, 2021
GSAT0219MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0220MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0221MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0222MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0215MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0216MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0217MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0218MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017

glonass

Satellite NameOrbit Date
Kosmos 2569--07 Aug, 2023
Kosmos 2564--28 Nov, 2022
Kosmos 2559--10 Oct, 2022
Kosmos 2557--07 Jul, 2022
Kosmos 2547--25 Oct, 2020
Kosmos 2545--16 Mar, 2020
Kosmos 2544--11 Dec, 2019
Kosmos 2534--27 May, 2019
Kosmos 2529--03 Nov, 2018
Kosmos 2527--16 Jun, 2018

gps

Satellite NameOrbit Date
Navstar 82Medium Earth Orbit19 Jan, 2023
Navstar 81Medium Earth Orbit17 Jun, 2021
Navstar 78Medium Earth Orbit22 Aug, 2019
Navstar 77Medium Earth Orbit23 Dec, 2018
Navstar 76Medium Earth Orbit05 Feb, 2016
Navstar 75Medium Earth Orbit31 Oct, 2015
Navstar 74Medium Earth Orbit15 Jul, 2015
Navstar 73Medium Earth Orbit25 Mar, 2015
Navstar 72Medium Earth Orbit29 Oct, 2014
Navstar 71Medium Earth Orbit02 Aug, 2014

irnss

Satellite NameOrbit Date
NVS-01Geostationary Orbit (GEO)29 May, 2023
IRNSS-1IInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)12 Apr, 2018
IRNSS-1HSub Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (Sub-GTO)31 Aug, 2017
IRNSS-1GGeostationary Orbit (GEO)28 Apr, 2016
IRNSS-1FGeostationary Orbit (GEO)10 Mar, 2016
IRNSS-1EGeosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)20 Jan, 2016
IRNSS-1DInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)28 Mar, 2015
IRNSS-1CGeostationary Orbit (GEO)16 Oct, 2014
IRNSS-1BInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)04 Apr, 2014
IRNSS-1AInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)01 Jul, 2013