Space debris representation. Photo: Astroscale

Astroscale’s U.K. subsidiary has been awarded 100,000 pounds in funding from the UK Ministry of Defence to perform a study on space-based space domain awareness.

Astroscale Ltd. will lead the consortium, working with Raytheon NORSS, a business unit within Raytheon UK, and consultancy SJE Space. The study will work to further knowledge of space-based space domain awareness by reviewing current technologies that are used in these missions and analyzing how the tech will progress in the coming decades. It will also asses space-based vs. ground-based capabilities for space domain awareness. 

The MoD Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is funding the study, Astroscale announced Thursday. 

“The Astroscale UK SSA team is very pleased to have won this Dstl funded study,” said Mekhi Dhesi, Astroscale SSA Solutions engineer. “The study will allow us to grow our SB-SDA / ISSA expertise and provide the opportunity for further exciting collaboration with Raytheon NORSS and SJE Space.”  

SJE Space is a technical coordinator of the Global Network On Sustainability in Space (GNOSIS), and Raytheon NORSS provides end-to-end SDA capability.