On September 20th at the International Astronautical Congress in Paris, Astroscale and NorthStar Earth and Space announced that they were entering into a partnership in support of space sustainability. A week later the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced revised rules for deorbiting satellites bringing additional context to the partnership.
The NorthStar release announcing the partnership stated that with Astroscale will “cooperate to demonstrate the benefits of combining precise In-Space Situational Awareness (ISSA) services to support reliable on-orbit servicing in low Earth orbit,” by combining “NorthStar’s precise space-based resident space object tracking with Astroscale’s enhanced spacecraft navigation and capture capability.”
The two companies’ core competencies make them a natural fit for a strategic partnership. NorthStar and their Skylark constellation will have the capability to track debris and satellites in the increasingly-crowded low Earth orbit (LEO), identifying potential hazards before they happen. Astroscale, in turn, is building the capability to service and de-orbit satellites, offering satellite operators the possibility of third-party management of on-orbit satellite revitalization or safe deorbiting—not to mention safe debris removal.
The recent announcement on new satellite deorbiting rules by the FCC, however, changes the context of this announcement. Debris management is no longer an abstracted issue for study; it is now a key policymaking goal for senior US Government officials. This partnership may become far more significant for the industry than it may have initially appeared.
Astroscale’s satellite servicing and debris disposal
Japan’s Astroscale is one of several upcoming companies, including D-Orbit and Canada’s own Obruta Space Solutions, that is looking at catering to a growing market for on-orbit servicing of satellites. With the growing number of LEO constellations, as well as a large number of still-relevant (and expensive-to-replace) satellites in geosynchronous orbit (GEO), companies are looking for ways to either refuel and revitalize their existing in-orbit satellites, or to inexpensively manage their End-of-Life (EoL) by deorbiting them or moving them into “graveyard” orbits.
Astroscale offers both types of services. Their online marketing material offers life extension for GEO satellites, noting that replacement GEO satellite deployment can cost over US$200 million, and that revitalization could be an extremely cost-efficient alternative where possible. As for end-of-life management, Astroscale points to their “ELSA-d” experiment as proof that they have the capabilities that are “essential for rendezvous and proximity operations and on-orbit servicing,” including “tracking of an object from a great distance, rendezvous with an uncontrolled object, and handover from absolute navigation to relative navigation for a low-Earth orbit (LEO) servicing spacecraft.”
Debris removal is a significant goal as well, and Astroscale plans to have the precursor for their Active Debris Removal capability launched by 2023, working in conjunction with Japan’s JAXA on Phase 1 of their Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration project. They also plan on demonstration of their “ELSA-M” (multi-satellite) deorbiting capability in 2024, and are working with the UK Space Agency on the UK Active Debris Removal Mission.
NorthStar: Debris-tracking constellation
Montreal’s NorthStar Earth and Space, meanwhile, is building their own relevant capabilities regarding the issues of debris and EoL satellites. Their Skylark constellation, as detailed in previous SpaceQ coverage, is dedicated to space situational awareness, providing space-based tracking of orbital objects like satellites and debris.
CEO and co-founder Stewart Bain told SpaceQ that space collisions are an “imminent threat to the new space economy,” and pivoted the company towards focusing on the market opportunities in providing the observations and data needed to combat this threat. They state that their constellation will provide “continuous custody of all tracked objects within the expanded NorthStar catalogue,” as well as assistance with tasks like collision avoidance, event detection, space object tracking, and (most relevant for the Astroscale deal) high-precision conjunction warnings and deorbit support.
Though their Skylark satellites won’t start launching until 2023, they’re already inking a variety of deals leveraging this upcoming capability. NorthStar has made deals with Luxembourg, Exoanalytics, Japan Space Imaging, and Telespazio (a joint venture between Leonardo and Thales) to reinforce and market their object-tracking capabilities.
Orbital synchronicities
What makes the Astroscale partnership different is that it could create a symbiotic relationship between the two companies, with NorthStar providing the information needed to determine which satellites (or even debris objects) are in most need of Astroscale’s capabilities for either revitalization or de-orbiting and disposal. Luxembourg can’t stop a collision from happening. Astroscale could.
As to the deal, NorthStar CEO Stewart Bain said that “combining NorthStar’s space-based coverage with Astroscale’s impressive on-orbit servicing capabilities is a very powerful response to immediate challenges in all near-Earth orbits,” and that “NorthStar is proud to join forces with Astroscale as part of an essential community that is committed to advancing innovation and commercial services for space sustainability.”
Astroscale Managing Director Nick Shave said that they are “delighted to announce this partnership with NorthStar to develop our in-space situational awareness technology and data,” that they “see an opportunity to enhance our spacecraft servicing and client satellite navigation & tracking capability with support from Northstar’s Space Information and Intelligence Services,” and that they’re “keen to leverage our Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO) and satellite capture expertise and advance our commercial on-orbit debris removal services with the benefit of both ground derived and in-space data.”
FCC’s decisive move to resolve debris issue
While the deal was announced in mid-September, the FCC’s announcement of revised rules for de-orbiting satellites have made it newly relevant for the industry. The FCC has decided on a “5-year rule” where satellite operators are required to have a plan to dispose of satellites within five years of the end of their operational lifetimes. This is a dramatic reduction from the previous 25-year window for disposal, and drew criticism from the House Science Committee over whether this should have been a Congressional decision, as well as a potential threat of a “joint resolution of disapproval” to overturn the rule.
(For its part, the Committee had only given direction to NASA to study if the guideline should be revised, but had not settled on any changes.)
Nevertheless, the FCC commissioners unanimously voted for the change, citing the “short- and long-term challenges of orbital debris,” including “defunct satellites, discarded rocket cores, and other debris” and the “more than 4,800 satellites operating in orbit as of the end of last year.”
Commissioner Nathan Simington said that “over the next decade, commercial operators plan to launch tens of thousands of new satellites into orbit,” and that they “seize the moment” now because “…there is no worse time to draw up ex ante rules for peaceful and productive coexistence than in the throes of an ex post crisis.”
Commissioner Geoffrey Stark, meanwhile, said that “most new systems in LEO don’t need 25 years for post-mission disposal, even above the lowest operational altitudes” and that “well before it makes LEO unusable, orbital debris could erect new barriers to entry in an industry that has innovated tirelessly to remove them,” citing NASA-funded academic studies on debris and “a bipartisan group of Senators [that]… introduced legislation to jumpstart the development of debris removal technology” as inspiration and justification for the change.
FCC decision changes the deal
Assuming there is no congressional override, this change will likely provide reinforced impetus for the NorthStar/Astroscale arrangement. Both commercial and nation-state operators of satellite constellations will soon have satellites that will be in need of either revitalization or disposal, and they will be needed decades earlier than they would have been under the old rules.
This is also a strong signal that the United States Government is serious about managing orbital debris. The strong statements from the Commissioners leave no doubt that senior government officials are very aware of the dangers of orbital collisions and a potential Kessler Syndrome disaster, and are intent on managing that threat now, rather than pushing it off to some point in the future.
SpaceQ’s earlier coverage of Obruta Space Solutions asked them about their pivot away from debris management to satellite maintenance, and how part of that decision was owing to their concern over “who will pay for it?” regarding the debris issue. The same “tragedy of the commons” that Obruta pointed to as a barrier was also mentioned by Commissioner Simington, as one of the FCC’s calls to action in deciding on these regulatory changes. The FCC is aware of the issue, and by discussing the “tragedy of the commons” is acknowledging that market solutions are not enough. When markets fail, a regulatory body exists to step up. They’re stepping up.
Companies that track orbital objects (like NorthStar with their Skylark constellation) and manage these EoL and/or revitalization processes (like AstroScale) will be gaining renewed interest as a result of this change. A partnership like this, which potentially provides both capabilities as part of one integrated whole, could become a valuable part of planning out the life cycle management of current and future space constellations.
So, thanks to this one decision, the two companies may have become more valuable than they’d seemed even a few weeks prior. Both companies had already been making deals, and both had been attracting funding, with Astroscale raising over $300M over nine rounds, and NorthStar raising over $84M over 2 rounds. The market is paying attention. With the FCC ruling demonstrating that debris and EoL management will be a problem that needs to be taken seriously, and with these companies promising a potentially integrated solution, the market will no doubt be paying even closer attention over the days, weeks, and months to come.