Astroscale – Tackling space debris

This week I spent some time with Astro scale UK, to find out more about what they do.

Astroscale was set up by Mitsunobu Okada in 2013, inspired by the obviously lacking in plans to deal with all the space junk. They started by raising capital and working on ELSA-D or End of Life Services by Astroscale demonstration. In this mission they sent up a test servicer, the space craft which will rendezvous with the client satellite, before matching the movement and docking. Then after docking the servicer will reduce its orbit and release the client allowing it to burn up in the atmosphere. The servicer will then rendezvous with the next client, and repeat the process up to five times, depending on the fuel and orbits.

ELSA-D launched in 2021 and successfully demonstrated the docking systems in orbit in august of that year, and since have been collecting valuable data to help work towards their next mission, ELSA - M.

ELSA – M is scheduled for launch in late 2024, and its mission will be to remove ‘real’ satellites which have reached the end of their operational lifespan, namely one web satellites at least to begin with. It has gone through countless design upgrades and, using lessons learnt from manufacturing and operating the demonstration model, has been refined.

At the moment Astroscale is working on the SQM or Structural qualification model, which is designed to be close to identical to the actual spacecraft, but with dummy weights replacing the often-expensive components. This will soon be shipped to Airbus in Toulouse where they will conduct vibration testing, along with impacts testing to help simulate launch conditions and ensure that the structure can take these stresses. Afterwards they will prepare to fully assemble and evaluate the flight model to ensure that it is ready for launch.

During my week I thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with people in all departments, conducting docking testing, understanding cyber security protocols and learning more about CAD and the different types of 3D printers. I even got to send a command up to ELSA - D, an actual satellite orbiting us right now.