Astroscale and NorthStar Partner to Develop In-Space Technology to Support Space Sustainability
NorthStar Earth & Space (NorthStar) and Astroscale announce today, at the 2022 International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Paris, that they are forming a strategic partnership to further support space sustainability by combining NorthStar’s precise space-based resident space object tracking with Astroscale’s enhanced spacecraft navigation and capture capability for on-orbit servicing.
Under this agreement, Astroscale and NorthStar will leverage their respective know-how, expertise, and unique services to highlight their shared commitment to space sustainability. Together, NorthStar and Astroscale will cooperate to demonstrate the benefits of combining precise In-Space Situational Awareness (ISSA) services to support reliable on-orbit servicing in low Earth orbit.
In 2023, NorthStar will launch the first commercial Space Situational Awareness service to deliver higher precision detection, tracking, and coverage for all near-Earth orbital regimes. NorthStar’s Space Information and Intelligence (Si2) services will serve all satellite operators to better manage their fleets, enhance spaceflight safety, and ensure space sustainability.
Astroscale is advancing its End-of-Life Services, most recently tested during its ELSA-d mission, which successfully magnetically captured its demonstration client spacecraft in August 2021. The latest ELSA-M servicer is in rapid development for launch in 2024 in partnership with OneWeb, the UK Space Agency and the European Space Agency. The state-of-the-art ELSA-M servicer will capture and retire multiple client spacecraft during a single mission. This collaboration will advance specific ISSA services required to support the tracking and capture of the Client spacecraft, as well as provide essential space-safety information about other space objects in orbit. Astroscale will endeavour to partner with NorthStar as a supplier of SSA services for future Astroscale missions.
“NorthStar is proud to join forces with Astroscale as part of an essential community that is committed to advancing innovation and commercial services for space sustainability,” said Stewart Bain, CEO & Founder of NorthStar Earth & Space. “Combining NorthStar’s space-based coverage with Astroscale’s impressive on-orbit servicing capabilities is a very powerful response to immediate challenges in all near-Earth orbits”
“We’re delighted to announce this partnership with NorthStar to develop our in-space situational awareness technology and data,” said Nick Shave, Managing Director of Astroscale Ltd. “We see an opportunity to enhance our spacecraft servicer and client satellite navigation & tracking capability with support from Northstar’s Space Information and Intelligence Services. We’re keen to leverage our Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO) and satellite capture expertise and advance our commercial on-orbit debris removal services with the benefit of both ground derived and in-space data. This is a great partnership that we look forward to harnessing with our forthcoming ELSA-M mission to clean up space and protect our orbital environment for future generations.”
About NorthStar
NorthStar seeks to empower humanity to preserve our planet through a unique Space and Earth information & intelligence platform using space-based sensors. NorthStar strives to help transform the way governments, industry and institutions assess risk, enforce regulations and make decisions to foster the sustainable development of our earth and space environment.
NorthStar’s unique space-based commercial Space Situational Awareness services address many of the critical and immediate challenges facing all satellite operators. Striving to see every object in every orbit, NorthStar will deliver more frequent and precise observations of resident space objects than any current system. Through a suite of high-speed decision quality information services derived from its unparalleled coverage, object custody, and enhanced predictive analytics NorthStar generates its Space Information & Intelligence services.
NorthStar’s investors comprise a global coalition of strategic partners, including Telesystem Space (a co-enterprise of the Sirois family office, Telesystem and the Roger’s Family Trust of Canada), the Space Alliance of Europe (Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio), the Government of Quebec, the Government of Canada and the Luxembourg Future Fund. NorthStar Earth & Space head offices are located in Montréal, Canada, its U.S. subsidiary, NorthStar Earth & Space Systems, Inc. is headquartered in McLean, Virginia and its European subsidiary, NorthStar Earth & Space Europe S.à r.l. is headquartered in Luxembourg.
About Astroscale
Astroscale is the first private company with a vision to secure the safe and sustainable development of space for the benefit of future generations, and the leading company dedicated to on-orbit servicing across all orbits.
Founded in 2013, Astroscale is developing innovative and scalable solutions across the spectrum of on-orbit servicing, including in-space situational awareness, end-of-life, and active debris removal and life extension, to create sustainable space systems and mitigate the growing and hazardous build-up of debris in space. Astroscale is also defining business cases and working with government and commercial stakeholders to develop norms, regulations, and incentives for the responsible use of space.
Headquartered in Japan, Astroscale has an international presence with subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, the United States, Israel, and Singapore.
Astroscale is a rapidly expanding venture company, working to advance safe and sustainable growth in space and solve a growing environmental concern.
Find out more at www.astroscale.com
