Astroscale UK

The UK and Europe arm of Astroscale, based at Harwell in Oxfordshire, working on removing space debris and servicing satellites in orbit.

About Astroscale UK

Astroscale UK, formally Astroscale Ltd, is the UK and European arm of Astroscale, a company set up to look after the space around Earth. It works on what is called in-orbit servicing: end-of-life services that take old satellites out of orbit safely, active debris removal, which means catching dead satellites or rocket parts, and in-situ space situational awareness, which means keeping watch on what is up there. Its ELSA-d mission was the first demonstration of magnetic capture for removing defunct satellites from low Earth orbit, and its next-generation ELSA-M servicer is designed to remove several small communications satellites at the end of their lives. It also sells a docking plate for satellites.

Astroscale was founded in Singapore in 2013 by the Japanese entrepreneur Mitsunobu Okada, who is known as Nobu, and has its headquarters in Tokyo. Its stated goal is to enable a sustainable space environment for future generations, and the UK arm says it wants debris removal and in-orbit servicing to be part of routine operations by 2030. Nick Shave, who was the UK managing director at the time, put it that way when the company opened its larger Harwell building. Astroscale Ltd was incorporated in the UK on 21 March 2017.

The UK team is based in the Zeus Building at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, near Didcot in Oxfordshire. A report on the opening says the building has about 20,000 square feet, a clean room for building and testing satellites, a mission operations centre and offices with room for 120 people. A directory entry says the UK and European team has more than 100 employees. The company also runs the National In-orbit Servicing Control Facility at the Satellite Applications Catapult on the same campus, which operated the ELSA-d mission. For the UK Space Agency's national debris-removal mission, COSMIC, Astroscale leads a group of about ten UK partner companies in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The company's own pages do not say much about everyday culture, and we have not invented any. What the sources do show is a team that works closely with others: UK and European governments, satellite operators such as OneWeb, and UK suppliers across the country. The UK team's job, according to its directory entry, includes running mission operations, building the ground systems that talk to spacecraft, selling its services, and working on the rules and incentives that encourage responsible behaviour in space.

The roles at a company like this cover a wide range. Spacecraft and systems engineers design the servicers, guidance and control engineers work out how to meet and capture a tumbling object, operators run missions from the control room, and project managers, business developers and policy specialists make the whole thing work with customers and regulators. Physics, engineering, computing and maths are common starting points, as are policy and business skills. Check the Astroscale website for vacancies.

What they do

• {'desc': 'Capturing and removing dead satellites and other debris from orbit, including the UK national COSMIC mission.', 'title': 'Active debris removal'}
• {'desc': 'Servicing spacecraft at the end of their working lives, including the ELSA-M servicer and a docking plate fitted to satellites.', 'title': 'End-of-life and life-extension services'}
• {'desc': 'Watching objects in orbit and running mission operations from a UK control facility.', 'title': 'Space situational awareness and operations'}

Key facts

• Founded in 2013 by Mitsunobu Okada; Astroscale Ltd incorporated in the UK on 21 March 2017
• UK base in the Zeus Building at Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire, with room for 120 staff
• UK and Europe team of more than 100 employees (directory entry, undated)
• Leads the UK Space Agency's COSMIC national debris-removal study with about ten UK partners

Website: astroscale.com