Astroscale is one of several new startup companies targeting space sustainability services such as satellite life extension services, active debris removal, inspection and orbit transfers.

Welcome to the first episode of our annual Summer Season specials. We’ve just completed Season 4 and Season 5 is currently scheduled to start on September 27. Between now and then we’ll be featuring weekly interviews or presentations from other content creators.

Today we have a Future-in-Space Operations presentation from April of this year. The presenter is Mike Lindsey, CTO of Astroscale who discusses the need for satellite life extension services, active debris removal, their technology and offerings. We offer this presentation now as Astroscale’s ELSA-D mission successfully demonstrated repeated magnetic capture of a clients satellite last week.

In his presentation Mike states Space Development Demands Sustainability. This has never been more true. Space debris is, and has been a problem since the early days of the space age. While most space actors are taking sustainability into account, the issue of legacy debris is a problem still without a cost-effective solution. Companies like Astroscale are tying to make the business case by offering innovative solutions. They aren’t offering to clean up legacy debris, but what they are attempting is a good first step. As new ideas, technologies, and importantly, business solutions come into existence, we can only hope that all space debris, legacy and new, can be removed safely.

Listen in.