As part of national debris removal efforts #Astroscale has developed robotic arm and gripper technologies. Unlike satellites built with dedicated docking plates, these systems are engineered to match the tumble of and physically grasp unprepared, arbitrary historical debris.

Scaling up commercial viability, ELSA-M is designed to service multiple "prepared" satellites (spacecraft equipped with a specialized ferromagnetic docking plate prior to launch) in a single mission, utilizing magnetic capture to streamline end-of-life deorbiting.

Launched in partnership with JAXA in 2024, ADRAS-J achieved a historic world first: the commercial rendezvous and close-up characterization of an actual piece of legacy space debris—a derelict H-IIA rocket upper stage.

By eliminating these massive ticking clocks before they fragment into millions of untrackable hyper-velocity bullets, #Astroscale aims to preserve long-term access to space. 🇯🇵

And since then, #Astroscale and others have continued ambitious approaches to debris removal. The program centers on mathematical necessity: removing roughly five large, heavy cataloged objects per year from the most congested LEO bands is viewed as critical to stabilizing the orbital environment.

The meeting follows proposals from the European Commission to make Canada the EU's first associate member, granting greater access to the single market

Discussions covered aerospace, quantum computing, satellites, and supercomputing.

Both leaders tasked their space agencies and defense ministries to share infrastructure, including rocket launch systems and ground reception facilities.

Shocked to be no 3. All thanks to you, the readers, posters, and curious folks who support our investigations into serious matters in these serious times. ありがとう, cheers, Mòran taing, Diolch yn fawr, 谢谢, شكرًا, धन्यवाद, and so many more...

As a result, “the baseline expectation” among Chinese analysts is merely for “a prolongation” of the countries’ truce at this week’s leaders’ summit, one scholar noted, while Goldman Sachs said investors it surveyed expected the talks to be “largely symbolic.”
www.sinification.org/p/what-china...