Orbital debris startup Astroscale chosen by JAXA for its first space junk removal mission

Published February 12, 2020

Japanese orbital debris removal technology startup Astroscale is going to be working with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on the agency’s first mission to remove some of the junk that currently exists on orbit. They’ve been selected by the agency to participate in its Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration project (CRD2), which includes two separate mission phases that together will aim to accomplish the removal of a large body currently on orbit, the spent upper stage of a Japanese rocket.

Astroscale, which was founded in 2013, is focused entirely on cleaning up orbital space, which it sees as a necessary step for long-term sustainable activity on orbit. Space debris has become a hot-button topic in the space industry, with current projections anticipating massive increases in the number of active satellites orbiting the planet, thanks to the uptick in satellite constellation projects in the works from commercial operators including SpaceX, Amazon and OneWeb.

The JAXA mission aims to complete its first phase by the end of 2022, and Astroscale will support that phase by building, launching and operating a satellite that will observe and acquire data on the rocket upper stage that the second phase will seek to de-orbit. The goal is to find out more about its movement and the surrounding debris environment in order to set up a safe and successful removal.

“The data obtained in Phase I of CRD2 is expected to reinforce the dangers of existing debris and the necessity to remove them,” said Astroscale founder and CEO Nobu Okada in a press release. “Debris removal is still a new market and our mission has always been to establish routine debris removal services in space in order to secure orbital sustainability for the benefit of future generations. The international community is growing more aware of the risks of space debris and we are committed more than ever to turning this potential market into a reality.”

Astroscale is also already involved in other orbital debris-removal projects, and plans to launch a demonstration mission of its “End-of-Life Services” offering sometime in the second half of this year. This mission will be a world-first demo of commercial orbital debris removal if all goes to plan, a key step in proving that its technology can meet the needs of this growing opportunity.

Earlier this year, a near-miss of two defunct orbital spacecraft made headlines, and observers noted that had a collision occurred, it would’ve resulted in a new debris cloud with “at least hundreds” of new pieces of trackable debris. Astroscale and others like it could, combined with other initiatives like more granular tracking and information sharing among satellite operators, provide a much more sustainable in-space operating environment for the range of commercial activities either planned or in progress for orbital space.

JAXA launch for HTV-8 cargo mission to International Space Station officially scrubbed

Published September 10, 2019

During a press conference held just after 6 AM JST, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Launch Director Atsutoshi Tamura and the Director of JAXA’s Tanegashima Space Center Takeshi Fujita detailed what the two partners knew so far about the cause of their aborted HTV-8 mission on Tuesday.

The launch, scheduled to take place at 6:33 AM JST, instead was officially scrubbed at around 4:34 AM JST due to a fire on the mobile launcher upon which the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-IIB rocket was sitting ready for launch. The fire began at 3:05 AM JST according to Tamura, and efforts began immediately to extinguish it immediately, with the fire finally being completely put out (as far as JAXA and MHI can tell) by 5:10 AM JST.

So far, all that is known about the fire is that it occurred in a small hole in the platform located between the third and fourth solid propellant boosters, which is designed to provide a venting channel for fire put out by the rocket’s engines when it’s operating normally during launch. This aperture is made of metal, and surrounded by fire retardant materials, which makes it very unlikely for it to catch fire normally. Both Tamura and Fujita confirmed that this specific situation has not happened previously with any prior launches.

The actual cause of the fire remains unknown, and so far, JAXA and MHI staff have not been able to approach the launch vehicle for a closer inspection due to safety considerations. They are confident based on observation from a distance that they’ve succeeded in putting the fire out, and anticipate being able to approach the rocket later today to perform an in-person inspection.

The vehicle was fully fueled when the fire began, but the fuel was quickly siphoned out when the fire was discovered. It’s not yet clear what damage to the launch vehicle has resulted from the incident. The cargo, which included a significant amount of supplies for ISS astronauts, doesn’t initially appear to have been damaged but further inspection will be required, per MHI and JAXA. There isn’t an urgent need for those supplies, however, JAXA confirms.

At the very earliest, the next launch attempt will be September 17, MHI shared, but this date is highly dependent on the results of the investigation into the cause of the fire.

The original article, including updates, follows below.

[Update 09/11/19 4:34 AM JST: JAXA and MHI confirm the launch is scrubbed for today. We’ll find out more at a press conference at 6 AM JST, including whether there is any chance of making an attempt in the backup window.]

[Update 09/11/19 4:07 AM JST: JAXA and MHI confirm that there is a fire on the Mobile Launcher upon which the H-IIB is loaded to roll out to the launch pad. The fire, described as ‘small,’ started at 3:10 AM JST and continues as of this writing at 4:07 AM JST, while attempts are underway to extinguish it, as you can see in the photo captured on site by TechCrunch below. We’ll provide more updates as they become available.]

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’s Launch Services division is all set to send a crucial cargo payload to the International Space Station from JAXA today. The launch is scheduled for 6:33 AM Japan Standard Time (5:33 PM ET/2:33 PM PT), and will take off from Tanegashima Island, at JAXA’s Tanegashima Space Center.

The rocket used for this launch is the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) H-IIB, and this is the eighth flight launch of the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) that MHI designed and built in Japan.

In the H-IIB configuration, the MHI-built rocket that will transport he HTV includes a liquid propellant central core, along with four solid propellant rocket boosters to give it additional life capacity. This particular mission will see the HTV loaded with 5.3 metric tons (just under six U.S. tons) of supplies for the ISS on board in both pressurized and unpressurized cargo containers, which divvy up the total capacity.

One of the crucial pieces of cargo going up is a small satellite deployment device, called “Kibo,” created by the Kyushu Institute of Technology and the National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Science. It’ll be used to deploy a range of super compact CubeSats also on board, including a propulsion tech demo created by the University of Tokyo and startup Space BD, which is the first company awarded a contract by JAXA to be the commercial operator for deploying smallsats from the ISS via Kibo.

NASA TV will be carrying the launch live via the stream above, with their coverage kicking off around 5 PM ET (2 PM PT/6 AM JST).

Disclosure: MHI covered the travel costs associated with this launch.

Japan’s ispace now aims for a lunar landing in 2021, and a Moon rover deployment in 2023

Published August 23, 2019

One of the private companies aiming to deliver a commercial lunar lander to the Moon has adjusted the timing for its planned mission, which isn’t all that surprising, given the enormity of the task. Japanese startup ispace is now targeting 2021 for their first lunar landing, and 2023 for a second lunar mission that will also include deploying a rover on the Moon’s surface.

The company’s HAKUTO-R program was originally planned to include a mission in 2020 that would involve sending a lunar orbital vehicle for demonstration purposes without any payloads, but that part of the plan has been scrapped in favor of focusing all efforts on delivering actual payloads for commercial customers by 2021 instead.

This updated focus, the company says, is due mostly to the speeding up of the global market for private launch services and payload delivery, including for things like NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, wherein the agency is looking for a growing number of private contractors to support its own needs in terms of getting stuff to the Moon.

Although ispace itself isn’t on the list of nine companies selected in round one of NASA’s program, the Japanese company is supporting American nonprofit Draper in its efforts, which was one of the chosen. The Draper/ispace team-up happened after ispace’s initial commitment to its 2020 orbital demo, so its change in priorities makes sense given the new tie-up.

HAKUTO-R will use SpaceX’s Falcon 9 for its first missions, and the company has also signed partnerships with JAXA, Japan’s space agency, as well as new corporate partners including Suzuki, Sumitomo Corporation, Shogakukan and Citizen Watch.