Astroscale - Space debris removal startup

[savuporo]

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=51199
http://spacenews.com/space-debris-removal-startup-astroscale-raises-25-million/

Astroscale has a 22-kilogram small satellite slated to launch on a Soyuz rocket through Russian company Glavkosmos in 2018 from either the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan or Russia’s new Vostochny Cosmodrome in the country’s far east. That satellite, called “Idea OSG-1,” is for monitoring sub-millimeter-sized debris. Astroscale estimates roughly 750,000 debris objects greater than one centimeter in diameter orbit the Earth today.

Yet another small satellite startup breaking a mold.

[smoliarm]

Further development:

http://spacenews.com/qa-astroscales-chris-blackerby-on-turning-a-profit-by-cleaning-up-space/

...The company’s two satellites, Idea OSG-1 to monitor debris and ELSA-d to demonstrate de-orbit procedures, are scheduled to launch in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Idea OSG-1 is manifested on a Glavkosmos Soyuz.

Investors have backed Astroscale’s vision to the tune of $53 million, showing meaningful confidence in the four-year-old company’s ability to clean up literally and financially...

(Bold mine)

[Tywin]

New round the finance for this company...now 30 million of dollars...

https://spacewatch.global/2019/04/singapores-astroscale-completes-30-million-series-d-funding-round-to-open-u-s-office-in-denver/

“This is an exciting time for Astroscale and marks a significant milestone for the company, its employees and future customers who will all benefit from the opportunities this expansion presents,” said Nobu Okada, Founder and CEO. “The United States has been active in addressing issues related to space traffic management and the mitigation of orbital debris. An office in the United States will allow us to work closely with policy makers and business leaders to devise a sustainable solution for this global issue.”

[Davidthefat]

What's the business case for a debris removal company? Who's going to be paying them to do it? How will that bring continual revenue?

[jongoff]

What's the business case for a debris removal company? Who's going to be paying them to do it? How will that bring continual revenue?

Well, the near-term part of their market isn't exactly what you might think of when you hear the term "debris removal". Basically, their initial market is providing backup disposal services for the LEO megaconstellations like OneWeb, SpaceX, Telesat, Boeing and now Amazon's Kuiper. If even a fraction of those satellites get built, and unless they are way more reliable than the original Iridium constellation, they're going to need towing services. My startup Altius is also going after this market.

The other market Astroscale is going after is cleanup of legacy debris (more what you might think of when you hear "debris removal"), and I agree that that's a much longer game, because it requires convincing countries to pay to clean up their past messes. But it seems like less of a long-shot once you've demonstrated that debris cleanup can be done affordably. In a world without two trucks, leaving dead satellites in crowded orbits may be considered tolerable, but once you've shown that active debris removal is doable and affordable, what's counted as responsible behavior, and what's count as negligence is likely going to shift.

My startup is more focused on the LEO megaconstellation cleanup and then cooperative servicing (refueling, modular repairs/upgrades) than it is on legacy debris cleanup, but Astroscale has deep enough pockets and a talented enough policy team that they have a decent shot of convincing enough governments to pay for cleaning up their junk to make it into a real market.

~Jon

[A_M_Swallow]

What's the business case for a debris removal company? Who's going to be paying them to do it? How will that bring continual revenue?

IMHO The money for debris removal will be coming from insurance companies, governments and operators of large fleets of satellites. This will be similar to product liability but hopefully without the court cases. It will be driven by regulation. Such rules will be demanded by the industry when launches have to be delayed due to debris flying over the launch pad and disused satellites hitting active ones.

I suspect regulations will require a levy to be charged on private sector launches which could be paid into an insurance fund. When a satellite or possibly an area needs clearing the fund would advertise the contract and pay the contract on completion. Like life insurance the insurance company would make its money from administering and investing the fund. Defence satellites would either pay the levy or the governments treat it as an operational cost.

It will have to be a launch levy rather than an operational levy because even big companies can go bankrupt e.g. Iridium. Banks and stock brokers are possible rivals to insurance companies for running the fund.

[envy887]

What's the business case for a debris removal company? Who's going to be paying them to do it? How will that bring continual revenue?

Well, the near-term part of their market isn't exactly what you might think of when you hear the term "debris removal". Basically, their initial market is providing backup disposal services for the LEO megaconstellations like OneWeb, SpaceX, Telesat, Boeing and now Amazon's Kuiper. If even a fraction of those satellites get built, and unless they are way more reliable than the original Iridium constellation, they're going to need towing services. My startup Altius is also going after this market.

Speaking of the Iridium reliability, do you know of a good summary of the on-orbit lifetime and failure rate of the original constellation? I know they had a bunch of failures, but those satellites have been up there 20+ years now. Some of the new constellations are planning shorter lifetimes and lower initial deployment altitudes, so there might not be as big a market for this service as an extrapolation from Iridium would indicate.

[jongoff]

What's the business case for a debris removal company? Who's going to be paying them to do it? How will that bring continual revenue?

Well, the near-term part of their market isn't exactly what you might think of when you hear the term "debris removal". Basically, their initial market is providing backup disposal services for the LEO megaconstellations like OneWeb, SpaceX, Telesat, Boeing and now Amazon's Kuiper. If even a fraction of those satellites get built, and unless they are way more reliable than the original Iridium constellation, they're going to need towing services. My startup Altius is also going after this market.

Speaking of the Iridium reliability, do you know of a good summary of the on-orbit lifetime and failure rate of the original constellation? I know they had a bunch of failures, but those satellites have been up there 20+ years now. Some of the new constellations are planning shorter lifetimes and lower initial deployment altitudes, so there might not be as big a market for this service as an extrapolation from Iridium would indicate.

I did a preliminary analysis from open-source information a while ago -- http://www.altius-space.com/scaf-2017-presentation-open-source-analysis-iridium-failures-implications-big-leo-constellations/

And I spoke with the CEO of Iridium within the past 6-9 months, and he said that 35 of the original 95 failed in a way that wouldn't deorbit within 25yrs. But I don't have an exact breakdown of when in the lifespan of the constellation they failed. AIUI, a lot failed pretty early on, then a slower steadier pace after that.

The important thing to remember though is that while they went for 21yrs, the original plan was to replace them after 7yrs (not much different from most of the other LEO megaconstellations). There are reasons why 2nd generation constellations get delayed, and they tend to happen to almost everyone doing constellations. The first gen takes longer to build and launch, costs more than expected, customer uptake is slower than expected, you get a recession at some point in the process, etc. I'll be really impressed if the first batch of megaconstellations replaces their satellites within 50% of their expected lifetimes. So many of the same pressure you saw with Iridium are likely to exist for them as well.

Anyhow, I'm not too worried about there not being a market for deorbit services. I'm more worried about if we can get supply available to meet the demand.

~Jon

[envy887]

What's the business case for a debris removal company? Who's going to be paying them to do it? How will that bring continual revenue?

Well, the near-term part of their market isn't exactly what you might think of when you hear the term "debris removal". Basically, their initial market is providing backup disposal services for the LEO megaconstellations like OneWeb, SpaceX, Telesat, Boeing and now Amazon's Kuiper. If even a fraction of those satellites get built, and unless they are way more reliable than the original Iridium constellation, they're going to need towing services. My startup Altius is also going after this market.

Speaking of the Iridium reliability, do you know of a good summary of the on-orbit lifetime and failure rate of the original constellation? I know they had a bunch of failures, but those satellites have been up there 20+ years now. Some of the new constellations are planning shorter lifetimes and lower initial deployment altitudes, so there might not be as big a market for this service as an extrapolation from Iridium would indicate.

I did a preliminary analysis from open-source information a while ago -- http://www.altius-space.com/scaf-2017-presentation-open-source-analysis-iridium-failures-implications-big-leo-constellations/

And I spoke with the CEO of Iridium within the past 6-9 months, and he said that 35 of the original 95 failed in a way that wouldn't deorbit within 25yrs. But I don't have an exact breakdown of when in the lifespan of the constellation they failed. AIUI, a lot failed pretty early on, then a slower steadier pace after that.

The important thing to remember though is that while they went for 21yrs, the original plan was to replace them after 7yrs (not much different from most of the other LEO megaconstellations). There are reasons why 2nd generation constellations get delayed, and they tend to happen to almost everyone doing constellations. The first gen takes longer to build and launch, costs more than expected, customer uptake is slower than expected, you get a recession at some point in the process, etc. I'll be really impressed if the first batch of megaconstellations replaces their satellites within 50% of their expected lifetimes. So many of the same pressure you saw with Iridium are likely to exist for them as well.

Anyhow, I'm not too worried about there not being a market for deorbit services. I'm more worried about if we can get supply available to meet the demand.

~Jon

Thanks for the link. It would be interesting to see some more detail on the design for reliability of the big LEO constellation sats, e.g. to they have triple redundancy on everything required for deorbit?

On the other hand, it might be cheaper to add a grappling fixture that simplifies grabbing an uncontrolled sat, and just buy a deorbit service later, than to make everything triply redundant.

[jongoff]

Thanks for the link. It would be interesting to see some more detail on the design for reliability of the big LEO constellation sats, e.g. to they have triple redundancy on everything required for deorbit?

I highly doubt it. Maybe dual redundancy on a few critical items. But think about it. With SEP propulsion a deorbit maneuver takes 6-9 months for the higher altitude guys. How much of the spacecraft has to stay functional during that time for the maneuver to be successful?

On the other hand, it might be cheaper to add a grappling fixture that simplifies grabbing an uncontrolled sat, and just buy a deorbit service later, than to make everything triply redundant.

I think you still want your Plan A to be self deorbit -- it's way cheaper to add a little Xenon for the deorbit maneuver, and some limited redundancy. But I agree that having sufficient redundancy to guarantee say a 99% post-mission disposal reliability level is probably more expensive than going for a 90-95% reliable Plan A and buying deorbit services for the remainder.

~Jon

[envy887]

Thanks for the link. It would be interesting to see some more detail on the design for reliability of the big LEO constellation sats, e.g. to they have triple redundancy on everything required for deorbit?

I highly doubt it. Maybe dual redundancy on a few critical items. But think about it. With SEP propulsion a deorbit maneuver takes 6-9 months for the higher altitude guys. How much of the spacecraft has to stay functional during that time for the maneuver to be successful?

Not that much has to stay functional. Solar arrays, power electronics, avionics, and propulsion. Maybe comms and batteries, though you could program a auto-deorbit in case of comms loss, and hard restart every time it comes out of Earth's shadow if the batteries die. The solar arrays should already be at least double redundant, as should the avionics. The propulsion systems are probably pretty expensive though, I doubt they are fully redundant.

But Iridium only needed the same redundancy levels, and still managed to strand 20% of their satellites...

[Tywin]

Trash like that is a good and growing market...


https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1120925573939965952

http://www.leonarddavid.com/cluttering-up-space-u-s-rocket-stage-explodes/

[Asteroza]

I kinda felt a passive drag/resistance mode electrodynamic tether tape, rolled up like a party blower horn, with a sublimating gas capsule to deploy the tether tape, would be pretty reliable and simple as an end of mission type device. If you could rig the sublimation capsule somehow with a watchdog timer set for like 6 months or so, if the main sat internals die you can reasonably expect the drag tether to deploy. If the sat starts tumbling hard, the tether might also get flung out and deploy.

[jongoff]

I kinda felt a passive drag/resistance mode electrodynamic tether tape, rolled up like a party blower horn, with a sublimating gas capsule to deploy the tether tape, would be pretty reliable and simple as an end of mission type device. If you could rig the sublimation capsule somehow with a watchdog timer set for like 6 months or so, if the main sat internals die you can reasonably expect the drag tether to deploy. If the sat starts tumbling hard, the tether might also get flung out and deploy.

Passive tethers like that don't work really well much higher than 900-1000km. But at lower altitudes, there's a lot of possibilities for auto-deployed drag devices of various sorts. Most of them help a lot in terms of orbital lifetime, but only modestly better in terms of reduced collision probability (because by definition you're increasing your collision cross section, and for pure drag devices you have to hit the same number of atoms on the way down, so your swept volume doesn't change much).

~Jon

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://astroscale.com/astroscales-elsa-d-successfully-demonstrates-repeated-magnetic-capture/

Astroscale’s ELSA-d Successfully Demonstrates Repeated Magnetic Capture
Posted August 25th, 2021
Posted in News

Tokyo, Japan, Aug. 26, 2021 – Astroscale’s End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration (ELSA-d) successfully tested its ability to capture its client spacecraft using the servicer’s magnetic capture system, in a demonstration performed on Wednesday, August 25 (UTC).

A major challenge of debris removal, and on-orbit servicing in general, is docking with or capturing a client object; this test demonstration served as a successful validation of ELSA-d’s ability to dock with a client, such as a defunct satellite.

When ELSA-d was launched and commissioned, a mechanical locking mechanism held its servicer and client spacecraft together. The first step of this demonstration was to unlock this mechanism. Once unlocked, the magnetic capture system alone held the client to the servicer, preparing ELSA-d to repeatedly capture and release the client in future demonstrations.

The client was then separated from the servicer for the first time and captured to validate the magnetic capture system. During the release and capture period, Astroscale’s Mission Operations and Ground Segment teams checked out and calibrated the rendezvous sensors and verified relevant ground system infrastructure and operational procedures.

The successful completion of this phase paves the way for the remainder of Astroscale’s pioneering demonstrations of space debris removal. The Engineering and Mission Control teams are now preparing for “capture without tumbling,” where the client will be separated to a greater distance, and the method of rendezvous and docking will rely on a combination of on-board autonomous software and advanced ground processing of telemetry and commands. This demonstration is expected to be completed in the coming months and will be followed by the “capture with tumbling” phase, in which the client will simulate an uncontrolled, tumbling space object. “The final capture demonstration will be “diagnosis and client search,” in which the servicer will inspect the client, withdraw to simulate a far-range search, then approach and recapture the client.” 

“This has been a fantastic first step in validating all the key technologies for rendezvous and proximity operations and capture in space,” said Nobu Okada, Founder & CEO of Astroscale. “We are proud to have proven our magnetic capture capabilities and excited to drive on-orbit servicing forward with ELSA-d.” 

[su27k]

Astroscale raises $109 million Series F round

Astroscale announced Nov. 25 that it raised $109 million from European and Japanese investors in a round it says will allow it to accelerate plans for active debris removal and satellite servicing.

The Series F round, the largest to date raised by the Tokyo-based company, was led by Japan’s THE FUND Limited Partnership with participation from several other investors, including Seraphim Space Investment Trust in the United Kingdom and DNCA Invest Beyond Global Leaders, a sub-fund of Luxembourg-based DNCA Invest and managed by DNCA Finance in France.

With this latest round, Astroscale has raised $300 million, providing the company with capital to move ahead on several initiatives for servicing satellites and removing debris. That includes its End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration (ELSA-d) mission, which demonstrated in August the ability to release and capture an object in orbit. Another demonstration of ELSA-d’s ability to capture a tumbling object is expected to take place before the end of the year.

[Asteroza]

Looks like the passive grapple fixture fight is on.

https://astroscale.com/docking-plate/

Interesting to compare to DogTags. DogTags are deployed now on OneWeb, so has on-orbit TRL (but in-space use record hasn't happened yet).

This has retroreflectors which may be appealing.

Is the flush mount thing really that appealing?


I suppose the comparison is ELSA-d and this plate have been demoed in orbit, but the OneWeb deployment of DogTags is waiting on Altius' Bulldog servicer?

[su27k]

Astroscale pauses debris-removal demo following anomaly

Astroscale said Jan. 26 it has paused an attempt to autonomously capture an in-orbit satellite for the first time after detecting “anomalous spacecraft conditions.”

The company’s 175-kilogram servicer spacecraft was preparing to make the attempt Jan. 25, after separating from a 17-kilogram client satellite acting as a piece of debris for a series of on-orbit demonstrations.

While the servicer had successfully used its magnetic mechanism to release and recapture the client in an Aug. 25 test, this demonstration aimed to use autonomous capabilities for a larger-scale mission.

However, Astroscale said the company detected an anomaly after the servicer began “autonomous relative navigation, maintaining a constant and safe distance from the client spacecraft over multiple orbits” as the company prepared for recapture.

[Yiosie]

Astroscale preparing to restart debris-removal demo [dated Feb. 17]

Astroscale said Feb. 17 it is preparing to resume an attempt to capture a satellite acting as a piece of debris in low Earth orbit, after pausing the demonstration three weeks ago to troubleshoot undisclosed problems.

The Japanese startup has started moving its 175-kilogram servicer spacecraft closer to the 17-kilogram client satellite ahead of deciding whether to restart the demonstration, Astroscale said in a social media post.

According to Astroscale, it has made “good progress in working through solutions to the anomalous spacecraft conditions that we identified with ELSA-d,” or End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration.

The company did not disclose the nature of the issue, when it could restart the mission or the distance between the two objects.

[Yiosie]

Astroscale to restart debris-removal demo with half the thrusters [dated Apr. 7]

Astroscale plans to resume an attempt to capture a satellite acting as a piece of debris in low Earth orbit despite losing half the servicer’s eight thrusters.

Most of the other issues that forced Astroscale to pause its End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration (ELSA-d) mission Jan. 26 have been mitigated or resolved, the Tokyo-based startup said in an April 6 news release.

However, the company has been unable to fix ongoing technical issues affecting four “non-functional” 1-newton High Performance Green Propulsion (1N HPGP) thrusters.

All eight thrusters were provided by Swedish propulsion specialist ECAPS, which is owned by U.S.-based Bradford Space.

<snip>

Astroscale said it would move the servicer to within 160 meters of the client “in the near future,” where it will seek to validate a low-power radio sensor needed to detect and track the servicer to operate more autonomously.

“Success in this demonstration would be an important advancement for rendezvous and proximity operations, especially under more challenging circumstances than planned,” it said.

The company then plans to move the servicer to a safe distance while it decides whether to go ahead with a recapture mission.