Astroscale, a Japanese space company, achieved the closest ever approach by a commercial operator to space junk, coming within 15 meters of a defunct rocket upper stage.

This was part of the Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J) mission, selected by JAXA for its Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration.

While this close approach was not required by JAXA, it aimed to demonstrate precise rendezvous and proximity operations.

The spacecraft, aligning with the capture point from 50 meters, was forced to abort the approach due to an unexpected issue triggering its collision avoidance system, The Register has reported.

Despite the setback, Astroscale’s effort marks a significant step in space junk removal, with future missions like the European Space Agency’s ClearSpace-1 planned to tackle the growing debris problem.

Written by B.C. Begley