Space Junk Removal Company Snaps Beautiful Photo of Discarded Rocket

Tokyo-based Astroscale Japan is a company attempting to deal with the growing problem of floating space garbage. As part of that mission, it recently completed a close fly-by of a discarded upper-stage rocket body, and the photo of space garbage it snapped is strikingly beautiful.

Floating space junk is a major, growing problem that if it isn’t addressed can result in humanity being trapped on Earth with no safe way into the stars. In addition to the nearly 7,700 satellites, around 23,000 objects are floating in Earth’s orbit that are larger than about four inches. This might seem incredibly small given the scale of the planet, but a tiny piece of debris can cause colossal damage when it’s moving at 15,000 miles per hour — that’s 10 times faster than a bullet.

It’s a problem that makes itself worse over time, as debris that collides with other debris creates more debris, escalating the issue. As reported by The Verge, Astroscale Japan is attempting to be one possible solution to the problem by actively removing large pieces of debris. As part of that mission, it launched the Active Debris Removal (ADRAS-J) satellite in February with the goal of collecting observational data that could later be used to remove larger pieces of debris from orbit.

“ADRAS-J is a groundbreaking mission as the world’s first attempt to safely approach, characterize, and survey the state of an existing piece of large debris through RPO. ADRAS-J is designed to rendezvous with a Japanese upper-stage rocket body, demonstrate proximity operations including orbiting around the upper stage, and gather images to assess the rocket body’s movement and condition of the structure. The mission will demonstrate some of the most challenging RPO technologies necessary for on-orbit services,” the company says.

The company published the first photo of space debris captured by the ADRAS-J in April, which showed the discarded upper stage of a Japanese H-2A rocket but got even closer this week. This particular piece of space garbage is 11 meters long and four meters in diameter. It also weighs about three tons. ADRAS-J was able to demonstrate its ability to safely approach the bus-sized chunk of space debris and gather images, like the one above, and use that to assess the discarded rocket’s movement and structural condition — info vital to calculating how to remove it from Earth’s orbit.

“Unprepared objects in orbit are not designed with any technologies that enable docking or potential servicing or removal, heightening the complexity of the operations,” Astroscale explains. “The fly-around observation involved a complex, autonomous operation to maneuver ADRAS-J around the upper stage client for continuous image-taking, providing more insights into its characteristics and movement.”

The photos of the H-2A upper-stage rocket are the closest captured since it was used to launch the GOSAT Earth-observation satellite in 2009. While art wasn’t the intent, the photo of this floating hunk of space garbage is no less beautiful.

The second stage of the ADRAS-J mission, which would capture and de-orbit large pieces of floating debris, is scheduled to begin in 2026 at the earliest.

Image credits: Astroscale