Credit: Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun

We are very excited to share that during the Japan Startup Awards in June, Astroscale received the Prime Minister’s Award! 🥂 The Government of Japan honors promising, bold venture companies that have created ground-breaking businesses, and Astroscale was recognized with the highest award for its commitment to the safe and sustainable development of space for the benefit of future generations. 🌍

During the Summit for Space Sustainability, we were very pleased to hear UK Science Minister, George Freeman, and the UK Space Agency announce the government 'Plan for Space Sustainability', which includes a review of secondary legislation and associated regulations focused on orbital constellations with a view to the update reflecting the huge growth in satellite constellations and the rapidly changing space environment. 🛰️📈 Read our response.

The Plan also placed more emphasis on the UK space system licensing process and associated third party liability insurance that will enable safe spacecraft operations and incentivize the sustainable use of space. 📡🌎

Through our role Co-Chairing the In-orbit Servicing & Manufacturing Working Group UKspace, we'll support scoping the new space sustainability standard.

Events

In the news

• Don’t miss this visually incredible story on satellite servicing and why it is vital to create a sustainable space environment in the Financial Times. "We can transform the space ecosystem if we can make satellite servicing an everyday, normal thing," says Chris Blackerby, COO.
• “We know that sustainability in orbit is big business. It opens up the door to accessing on-orbit services—tow-trucks, fuel stations, machine shops, and more.” Hear more from our VP of Global Space Policy, Charity Weeden, in Quartz.
• We're mentioned in New Scientist as one of the consortia in the UK's ADR mission to remove two unprepared satellites. “We’re trying to speed up the development of these technologies,” says Jacob Geer at the UK Space Agency. “There’s a net loss in the amount of objects in space. It’s an important step for everyone, not just the UK.” Read more about the UK's ambitions to keep space clean and our involvement.

Space to Grow

What do you get when space sustainability champions combine forces with a super cool launch company? A really great episode of Space to Grow obviously!

Rocket Lab's Peter Beck joined our hosts to discuss how partnerships and sustainability have been key to the company's growth and plans to make their rockets more sustainable in "The Infrastructure Available to the Commercial Space Industry will Impact Affordability of Launches".