Company focused on cleaning up space junk raises $50 million
Capitalism in space: Astroscale, a Japanese company with British ties, has raised $50 million in investment capital for developing a robot spacecraft for locating and removing space junk from orbit.
The company plans to use the funding to support several ongoing efforts, including the development of a technology demonstration satellite called ELSA-d. That spacecraft, scheduled for launch in early 2020 on a Soyuz rocket, will feature “target” and “chaser” satellites to demonstrate rendezvous and proximity operations. The target spacecraft is being built by British smallsat developer Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. under a contract announced last November.
The funding will support scaling up an operations center Astroscale established in the United Kingdom in 2017 that also handles engineering, procurement and business development. Astroscale said it plans to establish an office in the United States in 2019.
The article notes also that much of this money comes from Japanese investors, including Mitsubishi, and reflects a growing interest in Japan in private commercial space.
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Capitalism in space: Astroscale, a Japanese company with British ties, has raised $50 million in investment capital for developing a robot spacecraft for locating and removing space junk from orbit.
The company plans to use the funding to support several ongoing efforts, including the development of a technology demonstration satellite called ELSA-d. That spacecraft, scheduled for launch in early 2020 on a Soyuz rocket, will feature “target” and “chaser” satellites to demonstrate rendezvous and proximity operations. The target spacecraft is being built by British smallsat developer Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. under a contract announced last November.
The funding will support scaling up an operations center Astroscale established in the United Kingdom in 2017 that also handles engineering, procurement and business development. Astroscale said it plans to establish an office in the United States in 2019.
The article notes also that much of this money comes from Japanese investors, including Mitsubishi, and reflects a growing interest in Japan in private commercial space.
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.
Good grief
Another corporation scamming the taxpayer to pay for cleaning up after the non-existent space missions that have already been used to bilk the taxpayer out of innumerable trillions.
That grainy, amateurish movie of some guy in a Michelin Man costume continues to line the pockets of scammers everywhere!
Tell me this, from what camera angle did the get the color photos of the boosters falling off the LEM? And how did they ever have room for something as unwieldy as a dune buggy?
We all know it’s a crock but I guess your just sucking off the crumbs of this con game with ad revenue
Boosters off the LEM? There were no boosters. There was a lower stage for landing, and an upper stage for taking off. Perhaps you’re thinking of something else?
I’m not sure what ad revenue you’re referring to, since the only advertisements I see are for Bob’s books.
How did they have room? Because they applied technology developed for airborne forces in World War 2 and FOLDED IT.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=LUNAR+ROVER+FOLDED&&view=detail&mid=8BE8FD5DFD7CF139A6E58BE8FD5DFD7CF139A6E5&&FORM=VRDGAR
It would help before you ask such easy questions to do some research. Your lack of doing so makes you look stupid, lazy or ignorant. Or all three.
Col Beausabre-
Great clip! I had totally forgotten about how that was accomplished.
Calvin- ask about the Dome!
(hey, we all know– “it’s Turtle’s all the way down,” but keep that to yourself.)