Astroscale Japan released images of the orbital debris, demonstrating how an autonomous collision avoidance system could allow the spacecraft to avoid making the problem worse.
ADRAS-J is Spaceship was Release In February, Rocket Lab Electron will conduct a mission called “On Closer Inspection” to examine the decommissioned HII-A upper stage rocket.
The spacecraft came within a few hundred meters of the 11-metre upper stage in April, and by the end of May had come within 50 meters, before beginning orbital flights on June 19, maintaining a constant 50-metre distance, the company announced today.
The purpose of the fly-around was to demonstrate the capabilities of the technology used on the ADRAS-J spacecraft and to take images of the disposal stage, which has a mass of approximately 3 tonnes. The Leg online Standard Converter1,814 skateboard Rhinoceros.
However, a third of the way through the orbit, an automatic shutdown was triggered “due to an unexpected attitude abnormality,” and ADRAS-J retreated from the spent stage.
Although unplanned, the automatic abort was a useful demonstration of ADRAS-J’s ability to avoid collisions and not become part of the debris problem it is trying to solve.
Astroscale did not provide further details about the cause of the abort, saying only that the spacecraft was unaffected and remains in good condition. “The cause of the relative attitude control anomaly has been identified, and the team is currently preparing for a reapproach to the client,” the company said in an update.
The discarded upper stage was not designed for docking, rendezvous or removal, and ADRAS-J is collecting images and other data for its follow-up mission, ADRAS-J2, which will take further images and ultimately de-orbit the main rocket body.Uses in-house robot arm technology“
The problem of orbital debris It has increasedWhile technology like ADRAS-J can’t deal with debris, paint, and shrapnel that can come off from the collapse of rockets and satellites, shooting down something the size of an HII-A upper stage in a controlled manner would be quite an accomplishment. Other space agencies will be keeping a close eye on the experiment after some. A widely reported incident Uncontrolled re-entry.®
