A satellite developed by a Japanese private company to photograph "space debris" was launched from New Zealand on the night of the 18th, with the aim of removing "space debris" such as unused artificial satellites and rockets floating in outer space. The satellite was placed into the planned orbit and the launch was successful.
Astroscale, a venture company in Tokyo, is aiming to establish technology to collect "space debris" and is collaborating with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) to collect used rockets floating in outer space. We have developed a satellite whose purpose is to approach and photograph the
The satellite was launched from New Zealand just after 11:50 pm on the 18th Japan time, and the launch was successful as it was inserted into the planned orbit about an hour later.
The satellite that approaches and attempts to photograph is part of the H2A rocket launched by JAXA in 2009, and is currently orbiting at an altitude of 600 km, but it is not transmitting position information such as GPS, so it is difficult to be accurate. This means that the exact location has not been determined.
In the future, the satellite is scheduled to approach the rocket within a few meters and take pictures based on observation data from the ground, and in the future, full-scale development of a satellite to collect and remove such "space debris" is in progress. We plan to work towards this goal.
Astroscale CEO Mitsunobu Okada said, ``We are relieved that the satellite has safely entered orbit, but even if things go well, it will take about 60 days to complete the mission.There are many things that need to be done, so we need to stay focused.'' We were talking.