Astroscale Holdings

Astroscale Holdings Inc. (Tokyo Stock Exchange: ASTRO) is the publicly listed parent company of the Astroscale group, the world's leading dedicated commercial active debris removal (ADR) and on-orbit servicing company, founded in 2013 by former Goldman Sachs banker Nobu Okada who recognized orbital debris as an existential risk to the space industry. The company completed a landmark IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in June 2024, raising capital to fund its next phase of commercial debris removal operations. Key missions include ELSA-d (End-of-Life Services by Astroscale demonstration), launched in 2021, which successfully tested a magnetic capture mechanism for grappling and deorbiting defunct satellites — a first in the industry. ADRAS-J (Active Debris Removal by Astroscale - Japan) was contracted by JAXA and completed a rendezvous approach to a defunct H-IIA rocket upper stage body in 2024, producing images of a large debris object at close range that validated the proximity operations techniques needed for ADR at scale. Astroscale's commercial end-of-life services model asks satellite operators to install a docking plate at launch, enabling future servicing/deorbit missions — a subscription-based approach to orbital sustainability. Subsidiaries operate in UK (Harwell), US, Israel, and Japan.