flexplan and focussuite, GMV’s mission planning and flightdynamics systems, respectively, have been taken up by Satellite Applications Catapult to form part of the ground segment of the End-of-Life Service by AstroScale (ELSA-d)

ELSA-d is a service-demonstration mission for end-of-life services. The mission comprises two satellites, an active, controlled vehicle called “Chaser”, which rendezvous, docks or captures, and another vehicle or simulated space debris called the “Target”.

The Chaser is equipped with optical sensing instruments and a redundant capture mechanism, while the Target is mounted on a docking plate to make it easier to identify, approach and capture.

The mission’s aim is to demonstrate the Chaser’s capacity to approach and capture end-of-life satellites. Once the object has been captured, the Chaser will shift it into a safe parking orbit or launch it into the atmosphere to burn it up. This will avoid the buildup of space debris from end-of-life space missions. This concept is of the utmost importance for two reasons:

There is a growing concern about the buildup of space debris among most space agencies, which have launched various initiatives for cataloging and monitoring it (take the example of ESA’s SSA program), with a planned budget increase in coming years.

In line with the above, the announced launches of mega satellite constellations for the upcoming years mean that they will need to be removed upon reaching the end of their useful lives.

If the demonstration mission is successful, AstroScale will offer commercial and institutional operators these capture services for their missions, reusing the ground segment developed for the demo mission. This will consolidate the presence of both flexplan and focussuite within AstroScale’s future space-debris capture missions.