With the award of a commitment to develop a “responsive place program show dish” for Japan’s Ministry of Defense, Astroscale, the Chinese area venture company, has actually become a defense contractor.
The three-year job, which will be announced on February 27, will begin with the creation and testing of a “proto-flight” model, which will then be launched to exhibit space domain awareness, surveillance, intelligence, and functional capabilities.
As Astroscale Japan expands into the security and defense business,” We have established a second wall of our procedures,” according to managing director Eddie Kato.” As a result, we have established a considerable step.”
Prior to just, Astroscale has been generally known for its function on space dust tracking and removal. When it went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in June 2024, it did so in terms of both how it promoted itself and how the Japanese media perceived it.
However, it should be obvious that a high degree of ability to see and follow other objects in orbit and space is required for the identification, interception, and removal of space debris ( including satellites, defunct or otherwise ).
Officially known as space domain awareness ( or space situational awareness ), this ability to track satellites, rockets, and space debris requires telescopes, optical sensors, and radars. It serves both for military and civilian purposes and has always been a dual-use technology.
The definition of space situational awareness is” the necessary current and predictive knowledge of the space environment and the operational environment on which space operations depend,” according to NASA. It “provides knowledge and understanding of threats posed to space systems by adversaries and the environment [italics added ] and is essential in developing and employing space asset protection measures.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ( JAXA ) selected Astroscale as the private sector partner for Phase II of its Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration program in April 2024.
Astroscale was in charge of the ADRAS-J close proximity observation satellite’s preliminary design, development of navigation sensors, and other tasks during Phase I of the project. Phase II moves on to detailed design, ground testing, assembly, and mission operations.
The launch of a full-fledged debris removal service, ADRAS-J ( Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan ), was described as” the world’s first attempt to safely approach and characterize an existing piece of large debris through Rendezvous and Proximity Operations ( RPO )”.
Following the announcement on February 11 that Astroscale’s UK subsidiary had successfully completed the Mid-Term Review of the UK Active Debris Removal mission’s current development phase with the UK Space Agency, Japan’s Ministry of Defense awarded the company.  ,
Additionally, Astroscale UK has been chosen as the lead contractor for the European Space Agency’s Capture Bay for Active Debris Removal for In-Orbit Demonstration mission.
For work on In-situ Space Situational Awareness ( ISSA ), Astroscale UK announced a multiyear contract with leading UK defense contractor BAE Systems on January 14. Specific details were kept secret. In other words, spy satellites that spy on other satellites refer to the ability of one spacecraft to monitor another.
According to Astroscale,” We must understand them before we can safely remove defunct satellites and other debris from orbit. Includes the location, close approach, and rendezvous with an object, followed by the collection of in-space data to better understand the movement characteristics of the object.
For the US Space Force,” Space Domain Awareness & Combat Power” is focused on delivering cyber, ground, and space-based systems that quickly identify, warn, characterize, attribute, and predict threats to national, allied, and commercial space systems, as well as providing National Security deterrence capabilities in a space conflict.
International executive line-up
In Japan, Astroscale was established in 2018. It has offices in Tokyo, but it has grown to be a multi-national corporation with branches in the United States, France, and Israel. The top management of the business is composed of individuals who are connected to these countries ‘ space and defense establishments and have related industries:
Nobu Okada, the CEO of Astroscale, is a fellow member of the Royal Aeronautical Society of the UK and a member of the Subcommittee on Space Space Industry at the Japanese government’s cabinet office. Prior to that, he worked as an IT consultant and entrepreneur in Singapore, India, China, and Japan.
Chris Blackerby, the CEO, was formerly the senior space policy official at the US Embassy in Tokyo and the attache for Asia for NASA.
At OneWeb, Chief Technology Officer Mike Lindsay oversaw mission design, systems engineering, and spacecraft performance while also serving as the company’s director of spectrum architecture. He also held positions at Google and NASA.
Prior to joining Orbital Sciences ( which was later acquired by Northrop Grumman ), Chief Engineer Gene Fujii worked on commercial low earth and geostationary satellites and launch vehicles. He previously worked as a space technology executive at ORBCOMM and as a senior systems engineer at Orbital Sciences ( which was later acquired by Northrop Grumman ).
Nick Shave, managing director of Astroscale UK, was formerly vice president of strategic programs at satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat and chairman of UKspace, the trade association of the UK space industry.
Ron Lopez, president and managing director of Astroscale US, began his career as an intelligence officer with the US Air Force Space Command’s responsibility for developing space situational awareness capabilities. He later joined Honeywell Aerospace and headed the defense &, space Asia Pacific sales team.
Before joining Astroscale Japan as president and managing director, Eddie Kato established a space and telecommunications consulting firm in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, he served as a senior executive at Leonardo, an Italian defense contractor and the French aerospace and defense company Thales Alenia Space. Additionally, he held positions in the space divisions of Mitsubishi Electric, GE, and Lockheed Martin.
The French armed forces, the Centre NationalD’Etudes Spatiales, the UK Ministry of Defence, and the European Space Agency have worked with the managing director of Astroscale France, Philippe Blatt, who has previously held positions as a systems engineer and executive at Thales and Thales Alenia.
Ofir Azriel, the managing director of Astroscale Israel, began his career as a satellite engineer for the Israeli Air Force and later as a systems engineer for Israel Aerospace Industries. He then headed the on-orbit service company Effective Space Solutions and, four years later, handled the company’s acquisition by Astroscale, where he first served as engineering vice president.
This executive line-up suggests that Astroscale is more than just a company that cleans up the space environment.
Awareness of the space domain
Since 2021, Astroscale has been working with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Japan’s top defense contractor and rocket manufacturer, to develop on-orbit technology and services.
The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry chose it in the same year to conduct research and development on robotic and robotic arms and hands that can be attached to spacecraft to perform complex and complicated tasks like maintenance and operations, as well as in orbit and on the moon.
The first space domain mission unit of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces to operate the Space Situational Awareness ( SSA ) system with the main objective of monitoring things like space debris and suspicious satellites, which could pose a threat to Japanese satellites, was established in Japan in 2020.
The squadron was later renamed the Space Operations Group of the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force. It “entertained the full operation of a system a system in 2023″ and” took the position and orbit of space objects” in its entirety.
It collaborates with JAXA and other organizations to “monitor activities around the clock and warns satellite operators of the possibility of approaching objects.”
A consortium led by the UK Ministry of Defense’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory ( DST ) and SJE Space was chosen to explore space-based space domain awareness mission concepts for launch in the 2030s.  ,
Air Self-Defense Force Major General Takahiro Kubota told the audience that improving space domain awareness is one of Japan’s top strategic priorities at a Sasakawa Peace Foundation public lecture and panel discussion on” Enhancing Japan’s Defense Capabilities and Challenges Beyond 2027″ that took place in Tokyo on February 27.
In line with this, the Japanese Air Force will be renamed the Japan Air and Space Self-Defense Force in fiscal year 2027.
In light of all of this, Astroscale’s demonstration satellite for the responsive space system can be seen as yet another step in the direction of the development of hunter-killer satellites that are integrated into Japan’s and its allies ‘ space defense systems.
Follow this writer on , X: @ScottFo83517667