Astroscale

On January 5, 2026 Astroscale Japan announced a roughly 1 billion yen (~$6.4M) contract from Japan's Ministry of Defense to develop and ground-demonstrate a general gripping mechanism system able to securely grip national security satellites under a range of on-orbit conditions. The project runs from December 2025 through March 2028 and is Astroscale's second MoD award, following an earlier contract to develop a responsive-space GEO satellite prototype for space domain awareness.

In January 2026 Astroscale UK wins a EUR 399,000 eight-month Phase A contract from the European Space Agency to design IRUS, an In-Orbit Refurbishment and Upgrading Service that would replace degraded or outdated subsystems such as batteries, solar panels, and onboard computers on satellites already in orbit. BAE Systems joins as a prospective servicing client, and the study sits inside ESA's Space Safety Programme and its goal of becoming debris neutral by 2040.

In March 2026 Astroscale books Isar Aerospace's Spectrum rocket to launch the ELSA-M in-orbit demonstration, the mission intended to prove the world's first commercial end-of-life deorbit service for satellites fitted with a docking plate.

On March 25, 2026 Astroscale announces that ADRAS-J has finished its mission and started deorbiting itself. Days later the mission receives Japan's Minister of Defense Award, recognition of how much the rendezvous data matters to national space-domain awareness.

On April 6, 2026 Astroscale unveils the client satellites and concept of operations for ISSA-J1, which will inspect two retired Japanese satellites, the ALOS Earth-observation spacecraft retired in 2011 and ADEOS-II which failed in 2003, in different orbits during a single 2027 mission. It is developed under Japan's MEXT SBIR Phase 3 fund for large-scale technology demonstrations.

Astroscale announces a strategic capital and business alliance with SKY Perfect JSAT on May 19, 2026, then completes a combined ¥30.6B (~$209M) growth financing on June 5, 2026: a ¥16.3B Series 1 unsecured convertible bond and international zero-coupon convertible bonds due 2029, plus a roughly ¥2.15B increase in capital stock from a third-party share allotment to Hulic Co., Ltd. and SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation. Proceeds are earmarked for expanding production facilities in Japan and the UK, manufacturing the LEXI-P spacecraft, and working capital.

On June 12, 2026 Astroscale reports results for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2026: project income of 11.5 billion yen and IFRS revenue of 5.94 billion yen, an operating loss of 9.98 billion yen, a net loss of 6.70 billion yen, and an order backlog of 37.94 billion yen, down 14.6 percent year over year. Guidance for the year to April 2027 calls for 7.0 to 9.0 billion yen of IFRS revenue and a continued operating loss.

Astroscale Japan announced on September 1, 2026 that it selected Isar Aerospace to launch its ADRAS-J2 debris-removal spacecraft on a Spectrum rocket from Andoya Spaceport in Norway, targeting a 2027-2028 window. ADRAS-J2, contracted under JAXA's Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration program, will attempt to capture and deorbit the same derelict rocket upper stage that ADRAS-J inspected up close before completing its mission earlier in 2026. It is Isar's second Astroscale-group launch contract, after being picked in March 2026 to fly Astroscale UK's ELSA-M demonstration mission.

Astroscale Holdings lists in Tokyo under ticker 186A in June 2024, becoming the first publicly traded company whose business is orbital debris removal and satellite servicing.

Under Phase I of JAXA's Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration program, ADRAS-J rendezvouses with a spent H-IIA upper stage that has been tumbling in orbit since 2009 and photographs it from close range, the first time any spacecraft has safely approached and surveyed an uncontrolled piece of large debris.

JAXA selected Astroscale Japan for Phase II of the CRD2 program (ADRAS-J2) in April 2024 without disclosing a value. Astroscale Japan's board approved and finalized the contract terms at ¥12B (~$82.1M), disclosed in an August 19, 2024 regulatory filing, superseding an earlier internal estimate of roughly ¥13.2B and adding materially to the company's contracted backlog.

The End-of-Life Services by Astroscale demonstration mission launches and repeatedly releases and recaptures a client satellite using a magnetic docking plate, proving the capture technology that the commercial ELSA-M servicer is built on.

Former IT entrepreneur Nobu Okada founds Astroscale to commercialize orbital debris removal, a service no company had ever sold. The headquarters later moves to Tokyo, with subsidiaries established in the UK, the US, France, and Israel.