Space Trash Remove the abandoned rocket in orbit (photo)

Astroscale-Japan is going to solve a serious space debris problem in the Earth orbit. The Adras-J spacecraft, designed to study and remove space debris from orbit, flew very close to the exhaust upper degree of Japanese rocket and took a photo from a distance of 50 meters, Space writes. In focus. Technology has appeared its Telegram channel.

Subscribe not to miss the latest and most intricate news from the world of science! The Japanese company Astroscale-Japan is going to solve a serious space debris problem with its satellites, which are designed to remove it from the Earth. Adras-j was launched to check this technology in mid-February. From the end of April, the device has repeatedly approached the exhaust upper stage of the Japanese H-2A launch vehicle, which has been in space since 2009.

Then the rocket sent a satellite to the Gosat land satellite. Astroscale-Japan shared one of the recent photos of a rocket fragment, which was made by Adras-J from a distance of 50 meters. The 150 kg apparatus conducted successful maneuvers near the stage of the rocket at a distance of hundreds of meters to study it with its onboard chambers. The main task of Adras-J is to check the technology of controlled removal of non-working satellites and parts of missiles from the Earth orbit.

The device is also intended for maintenance of working satellites. With the help of the H-2A rocket, data on the state of this space debris and the degree of damage due to stay in space for many years were obtained. According to Astroscale-Japan, Adras-J will perform a few more maneuvers in the near future for further study of the H-2A missile, whose melon is 11 meters and width-4 meters.

The Japanese company stated that their device is able to approach the fragments of space debris safely and conduct them carefully, as the first part of the mission showed. It is now planned to carry out a controlled descent from the upper degree of the Japanese rocket. The Japanese Aerosmic Research Agency (Jaxa) has chosen Astroscale-Japan as a result achieved by ADRAS-J so that during the second stage of the mission, its device was able to remove a rocket fragment from the Earth orbit.

To do this, Adras-J has a special robotic rocket-seated manipulator. This manipulator is a lighter version of what is installed at the International Space Station (ISS). Focus has already wrote that NASA reported updated information about the state of the farthest space apparatus of humanity. It is a Voyager-1 apparatus, which, after a small accident, returned to full scientific activity.