Astroscale Japan has been awarded the Minister of Defense Award at the 7th Space Development and Utilization Awards. The ceremony, held on March 17, recognized our groundbreaking ADRAS-J mission - the world’s first mission to successfully approach and capture close‑range images of a large piece of actual space debris.1
Hosted by the Cabinet Office of the Japanese Government, these awards recognize projects that significantly advance Japan’s leadership in the space sector. By honoring pioneering efforts, the program also aims to foster public awareness and support for Japan's growing presence in space.
The Minister of Defense Award specifically highlights the ADRAS-J team's contributions to public safety and security, emphasizing our role in ensuring the secure and sustainable use of outer space for future generations. The selection committee particularly commended the mission’s world-first achievements in successfully approaching and imaging an actual piece of debris at close proximity, noting that is established technologies with the potential to advance both debris mitigation and space situational awareness. The committee also recognized debris removal as a critical challenge for humanity and praised ADRAS-J as an important first step toward addressing it. This achievement is a testament to the talent and dedication of everyone behind the scenes who turned this vision into a reality.
"The ADRAS-J mission was one of our most important missions, demonstrating rendezvous and proximity operations technologies," said Nobu Okada, Managing Director of Astroscale Japan. "We see this award as recognition of the mission's achievements, as well as an expression of high expectations for our on-orbit servicing capabilities. We are grateful to the host, award committee, Ministry of Defense for this honor, and to JAXA for the contract and support that made the mission possible."
The ADRAS-J mission was selected by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for Phase I of its Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration (CRD2) program. The mission was designed to demonstrate Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO) technologies – essential capabilities that are the baseline for future on-orbit services, including debris removal, also known as “roadside services in space.”
Since its launch in February 2024, ADRAS‑J achieved a series of historic milestones while in proximity with a non‑cooperative rocket upper stage (measuring about 11 meters long, 4 meters wide, and weighing roughly 3 tons). These achievements include a long‑range approach, capturing images of the debris, fly-around observations, approaching within 15 meters of the debris, and successfully validating the spacecraft’s autonomous collision‑avoidance capabilities.
Astroscale Japan has also been contracted for Phase II of CRD2 program. Our next spacecraft, ADRAS-J2, is planned for launch in fiscal year 2027.
Building on the success of this award-missing mission, ADRAS-J2 will attempt approach, observe and ultimately remove the same debris targeted by ADRAS‑J. Development and testing of the spacecraft are currently underway.
About Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration (CRD2)
CRD2 is a JAXA program to actively remove large debris of Japanese origin in cooperation with private companies. It aims to acquire debris removal technologies to address the increasingly critical problem of space debris and to support the commercial activities of Japanese companies.
Active Debris Removal (ADR), which has been discussed at scientific conferences and space agency meetings as to its effectiveness and necessity, has not made concrete progress in establishing an international framework due to difficulties in demonstrating and acquiring the necessary technologies.
