Historic image! Japanese space company unveils world’s first close-up image of space debris

For the first time, a satellite has captured a close-up photo of an individual piece of human-made space debris. AstroScale, a privately owned Japanese space company, released the photo of the space debris by parking another satellite next to its orbit.

The first-of-its-kind photo op in space is a step towards the ongoing mission to inspect and destroy potentially hazardous pieces of space junk, the ADRAS-J mission. ADRAS-J or Active Debris Removal mission was launched by AstroScale with the help of JAXA in 2009.

📢 NEWS: Pics or it didn't happen. Behold, the world’s first image of space debris captured through rendezvous and proximity operations during our ADRAS-J mission. #ShowtheWayADRASJhttps://t.co/amnv7UIQka pic.twitter.com/CKalYTpTuJ — Astroscale (@astroscale_HQ) April 26, 2024

Space debris: A menace and challenge for space industry

According to estimates from the European Space Agency (ESA), there are approximately one million fragments of debris larger than a centimetrein orbit. These sizable debris pieces, capable of “disabling a spacecraft,” present a significant threat to present and future space missions. The space industry is now trying to find ways to remove it.

At present, there are more than 9,900 tonnes of space junk clogging up the Earth’s orbit. All these tiny pieces of space junk hanging out in orbit are like a minefield for newly launched satellites and spacecraft.

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Even a small piece of debris can teak a hole through a spacecraft with enough momentum to manoeuvre away. It can even pose a threat to people on the ground when it falls back from orbit.

What’s more concerning is the fact the longer the space debris stays in orbit, the more it multiplies. Collisions between defunct satellites or parts of rockets can break larger debris into smaller pieces, making the resulting fragments harder to track and increasing their chances of hitting an active satellite.

AstroScale’s mission is to clean up some of the floating garbage before it can cause any damage to functioning spacecraft.

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In mid-April, the Astroscale successfully identified, approached and photographed a large piece of orbital debris, the upper stage of a Japanese H-IIA rocket that has been circling Earth since 2009. The demonstration was meant to test the spacecraft's ability to manoeuvre close enough to a piece of space junk to capture it, without crashing into it. The mission was a huge success, setting the stage for future removal missions.

The company is currently planning the second phase of the mission, which aims to remove a piece of debris, using a robotic arm attached to the craft to push the debris into a fiery descent through Earth's atmosphere.

(With inputs from agencies)