Update on Astroscale’s mission to de-orbit a OneWeb satellite
Link here. Lots of details. The project is now targeting a ’26 launch, and if successful would be the first to capture a spacecraft in orbit and de-orbit it commercially — assuming some other orbital tug company doesn’t do it first.
One tidbit from the article that I had not known:
While the UK Space Agency and European Space Agency have provided around $35 million in funds, … Astroscale is financing “well over 50%” of the mission.
In other words, both the UK and ESA are following the capitalism model. They have left ownership and control of the de-orbit tug to Astroscale, which means they require it to obtain outside private investment capital on its own.
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In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
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Link here. Lots of details. The project is now targeting a ’26 launch, and if successful would be the first to capture a spacecraft in orbit and de-orbit it commercially — assuming some other orbital tug company doesn’t do it first.
One tidbit from the article that I had not known:
While the UK Space Agency and European Space Agency have provided around $35 million in funds, … Astroscale is financing “well over 50%” of the mission.
In other words, both the UK and ESA are following the capitalism model. They have left ownership and control of the de-orbit tug to Astroscale, which means they require it to obtain outside private investment capital on its own.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
This is yet another exciting aspect of this decade. An orbital debris removal industry is beginning to materialize. In this case, the tug (the company is calling it a “servicer” rather than a tug, but it performs similarly to a tug) has enough propellant to deorbit three satellites. I’m sure that eventually the company will make its tugs retankable (refuelable), so that each one can spend its time in the region of its orbital plane, cleaning up space junk.
I’m sure that future tugs will begin to cost less to make, fly, and retank.* This could make it significantly more affordable to eliminate space junk.
This reminds me a bit of the 1970s television show Quark, in which the crew of a “garbage scow” space ship had the job of collecting space trash, demonstrating that this was enough of a concern half a century ago that it entered popular science fiction. Well, maybe not that popular; the show lasted only a season, or half a season, or maybe only until the first commercial break.
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* This one seems to be costing at least $70 million to design (perhaps including manufacturing costs?), and a launch may cost less than the price of a $60+ million Falcon 9, if it is part of a combined launch, for a cost of maybe $45 million for each of the three potentially deorbited satellites.