The next stage is cleaning: the spent rocket fragment will be removed from orbit
Japanese private company Astroscale has released what it claims is the world's first satellite image of space debris. As planned, the Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J) spacecraft approached the abandoned upper stage of the rocket and photographed it from several hundred meters away.
Space debris photographed by a Japanese spacecraft, — This is a stage of the H-2A rocket, which was launched by Japan back in 2009. Then this rocket launched into orbit a device for the Canadian satellite operator Telesat. According to Astroscale, ADRAS-J completed the world's first attempt to safely rendezvous and survey a large piece of space debris using RPO (Rendezvous and Proximity Operations) technology,
The Japanese company believes the data obtained is crucial for the next mission to remove space debris from orbit. The new active debris removal vehicle, ADRAS-J2, is expected to safely approach the same rocket body, acquire additional images, and then capture that piece of debris and remove it from orbit using a robotic arm. This phase of the program is expected to begin in 2026, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) website.